


DoCATor Who?

by kcharling



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alien Character(s), Alien Cultural Differences, Alien Flora & Fauna, Alien Planet, Alien Rituals, Best friend adventures, Cats, Complete, Complete Story, Gen, Honoring the Lost, I got cats, I love Doctor Who, Marijuana Use, Original Fiction, RIP, Sisterhood, You like cats?, i made dis, on an adventure, original plotline, trigger warning: self harm, with the doctor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:47:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29172132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kcharling/pseuds/kcharling
Summary: Come take a short adventure to rescue a grouchy cat from an alien planet!I'm very proud of this short story! I put a lot of dreams and aspirations into this, as well as my love of the Doctor and his wife :)This story contains the use of marijuana and scenes of self-harm.Enjoy!!
Relationships: The Doctor & River Song, The Doctor/River Song, Twelfth Doctor/River Song





	1. The Disappearance

_ The human population is ruled by cats. Those that do not love them, fear the bigger ones. Those that do not fear them, deify them. _

“Katniss, do you know how much I hate picking your shit off the floor? Do you? Cause I really fucking hate it.”

The empty house absorbed the young woman’s words as she used the plastic cat poop bag to pick up the pungent-smelling feces. Her mouth twisted in a grimace and she hurriedly took it to the trash can at the front of the rock lawn in front of her Aunt’s million-dollar home.

She smiled though because at least for this weekend it was  _ hers _ .

Technically.

Walking in the door, she spotted the Great Grump Herself, laying on the grey coverlet, tail swishing. “Yeah, I didn’t miss picking your shit up, but I did miss YOU!~”

Honestly, Katniss is irresistible- she was a big, fat, grey cat with the softest fur and the most majestic toe beans. The young woman buried herself in the fluff and snuggled the half pleased beast. “I hate to admit it, but I miss your presence, fatty fat. Our apartment is so empty without kitties making a rumpus everywhere,” the girl nuzzled her face into Katniss’ warm, soft side, “but I still don’t miss your shit.”

The door opened and another young woman walked in with bags on her arms. “Ness, why does it smell like cat shit?”

The dark-haired woman bopped the fat kitty on her head, “Blame this one. It was a welcome back gift.”

Katniss looked at the newcomer fiercely. The taller woman grinned, turning to look for the other cats.

There was Charlie, the big black cat and the only boy in the house, dragging his fishing pole to the back doormat that the young women affectionately called his Kill Circle. There was Eleanor Copperpot, the little calico devil, lounging on the highest perch of the cat tree. And somewhere in the house, Cat Benatar was lurking. Bennie was another calico, star-backed with stripes and spots like a leopard and cool, jade eyes. All the other cats tolerated the humans’ affection with relative ease. Not so with Bennie, who shied from almost all human contact.

The taller woman put the groceries in the kitchen and returned to the living room to snag a cat. “Big boi, come cuddle with your Auntie Becca,” she called, scooping the 20-pound cat into her arms and settling on the couch.

The evening was spent lounging with cats and watching Netflix originals, with long smoking breaks divvying up the binge-watching.

“Ah, this is nostalgic. Free weekend in this house with all the cats and an ounce in the backyard ready to be smoked,” Vanessa quipped with a stoner’s lazy smile. Rebecca matched the smile, “Except that when we lived here before we were too poor to afford to buy an ounce for a weekend, especially of the good stuff.”

Vanessa acceded, ripping a fat cloud off her vape as she deftly rolled another blunt. “Not so poor anymore though, heheh.”

Most people wouldn’t look at the two young women at that moment and think that they were rising superstars in their respective fields and crucial members of their local coven. 

Rebecca Smalls, a successful Environmental Scientist, making bold moves in her upper strata to push for practical and affordable solutions to the climate change crisis. She was clever, brilliant, and compelling to her admirers. To her detractors, she was loud, arrogant, and manipulative. The truth was found somewhere in between and the ambiguity of it all was the name of her game. Those who had once stood firmly against her and her ideas had learned better now just to get the hell out of her way. A tall, curvy woman who carried her responsibilities with confidence and style, famous for her powerful stride, her passionate wit, and her mane of wavy dark blonde hair. 

Vanessa Hyde, known internationally as a creative genius. Her books were on every bestseller list, had won dozens of awards, and had brought a new archetypical face to the fantasy genre. Though she was known for being a private person, her ideas had pushed her into the spotlight. Controversy followed her wherever she went, whatever she said. She had always been loved and hated in equal measures, giving her an apathetic view of public opinion which drove her rivals mad. Her readers stalwartly defended the eccentric, mysterious author and their tenacity didn’t leave room for the haters to speak. Short and slender, the easy-going writer lived half in reality and half in fantasy, doing her best to maintain her carefully created balance in between.

Becca snagged the glossy covered book off the outside table where Nessa’s Aunt had left it. “I knew this would fly off the shelves. After the second book, the masses were going nuts for your next installment. Fourth one in the works?”

Vanessa lit the slim blunt and took the first hit reverently, “You know it. I turned in my final draft right after the third was published so my busy bees are combing through it now while I work on the fifth. We’ve made it into a pretty solid system.”

She passed the blunt to her best friend who had been with her from day one. Their fourteen-year friendship had begun on the foundation of telling the truth even when no one else was willing to. Trust forged in fire and blood bound the women in sisterhood and nothing could shake it.

They finished their blunt, discussing the up and coming novel. “Another one?” Nessa asked, reaching for the wrappers. Becca smiled.

“You even have to ask?”

* * *

Passed out sprawled on the couch, the women didn’t notice the strangeness in the air. They didn’t see how the appliances hummed and flickered or how the cats stared into the dark hallway with reflective, curious eyes. They didn’t hear the slithering voices speaking a language this world had never heard.

They had no idea what was coming and how their lives were about to change.

* * *

Morning moved slowly, but the young women were on the wake-n-bake train early. Clouds drifted into the sky on their exhales and their bodies melted into the lounge chairs outside. It was the height of California summer and the large in-ground pool was a godsend. The heat was like a living breathing mass, rippling over sweaty bronzing skin and chlorine slicked hair.

“What time is your interview, Bec?” Vanessa asked before enjoying a deep bong rip that seared her chest.

Rebecca held up five fingers and waited for her friend to finishing her hacking. “Got a couple hours before I need to sober up. Hand me that,” she said, reaching for the bong Nessa had set to the side so she wouldn’t knock it over with her coughing. The shorter woman handed over the glass and sucked in a couple deep breathes, rushing the THC through her system. “Les get it, girl. Rip that shit.”

It burned her throat and double punched her lungs, but Rebecca did indeed rip it.

“Yas bitch.” Nessa commented through her own faint coughing, grinning as Rebecca made a pained face and exhaled slowly. It helped, but not much- the blonde began coughing mightily feeling the mild-mannered drug flow through her.

So it passed the hours leading up to the scientist’s interview, stopping with just enough time for her to sober up before her face was plastered on the news screens again. She was looking forward to this fight. She was relaxed, confident, and had honed the edges of her tongue sharp enough to kill a man.

“I’ll catch you in a little while. Don’t make dinner, I’m bringing home leftovers.”

Nessa wiggled a bit, reaching through her haze to proclaim in stoner: “Yaaasss, leftovers.”

It made Becca laugh as she walked away. “Don’t fall asleep in the sun.”

“I’ll have a bowl packed for you when you get back.”

Vanessa knew the other woman was right and maneuvered herself into the shade of the garage before taking another bong rip and gliding on the smoothness of her high.

Napping and snacking the afternoon away left the writer feeling calm and content. It had been a while since she had felt herself totally let go of the outside world and all it’s problems to enjoy a faded day.

Stumbling inside and locking the back door behind her, Nessa’s body went on autopilot- doing the simple chores of feeding, watering, and cleaning up after the true masters of the house.

Eleanor watched her balefully from the couch while Charlie snoozed on the second level of the cat tree, the largest level. He still barely fit.

More surprising was Bennie, contemplating the world outside the front window, probably waiting for her true humans to appear.

“I’m sorry, Bennie Starback- LoudStep and SoftHands won’t be home till Monday morning,” She murmured, using the ‘cat names’ she and her bestie had made up in the first months they had lived in LA, sharing the house with her Aunt and her Aunt’s housemate. Affectionately known as the Aunties.

Benatar didn’t even glance her way and Vanessa sighed in acceptance and continued her chores, like a very high robot.

It was a while before she realized that someone was missing.

“Katniss?” She called, ducking into her Aunt’s room to look for the leader of the Thunderpaws, a name they earned by how they thumped and pawed at closed doors they demanded entrance through. Katniss was the oldest and by far the most ornery of the bunch, but she was Nessa’s favorite cuddle companion.

“Fatty fat?’” She checked the bed, the closet, and the cat-io, not finding her. She then checked the bathroom, the closet, her other Auntie’s room, and the pantry. No sign of the big grey cat.

“Did I leave her outside?” The young woman wondered, even though her stoner brain was very certain that she had not let any cat out into the backyard and not let them back in. Stoner brain would remember if she’d had to get up to let the big cat in or out. She knew she hadn’t.

_ Oh man, Katniss, I really need you to be in this house. _

She checked one last room; the guestroom she had once shared with Becca their first three months in Los Angeles. She carefully checked the closet, behind the TV and chairs, finally getting on her hands and knees to check under the bed.

It was dark underneath and it shouldn’t have been. Vanessa picked her head up and looked across to where the hallway was before ducking back down and trying to see it beneath the bed. She could not.

The woman heard a slight rustle in the soft darkness and hope filled her chest. “Katniss?”

She laid on the floor and wriggled her head and torso beneath the bed.

“Katniss? Katniss, come on.”

Further and further she crept, legs disappearing into the soft, quiet darkness under the bed.

“Katniss?... Ka... Ah,  _ fuck _ .”

* * *

It was dark when Rebecca arrived back after an invigorating debate and a delicious celebratory dinner. She knew Vanessa would salivate as soon as she smelled the rich seafood and would insist on smoking before they touched the meal.

She unlocked the door, stepping inside to a surprisingly dark house. “I’m home and I brought food!” She called, expecting either a reply or a hurried thump as the other girl rolled off something and hit the ground running.

What she didn’t expect was silence.

“Hello?”

There was no reply in the house, no movement of any sort. Flipping on the living room lights, she saw Eleanor and Charlie asleep on the cat tree, resting up for midnight zoomies.

“Ness? You in the backyard?” She asked, opening the french door, but the outside was dark and empty. Twilight was descending fast, and Becca’s mind immediately cataloged what she knew in a neat orderly file.

She knew Vanessa had been here when she left.

Vanessa’s keys were still on the front door side table and her wallet was still in her purse.

Both front and back doors had been locked when Becca had returned.

Nothing was broken, no signs of conflict or struggle.

The most telling sign though was the pipe left on the outside table next to the jar of flower and the current good lighter. It was unprepared and unused.

So whatever had happened to Nessa, it happened relatively early after Bex had left. It didn’t look like she had been kidnapped or forced to flee. “Remain calm. Everything is fine. She is fine. It will all be fine if you… remain… calm.” Rebecca whispered, bracing her hands on the kitchen table.

“Shit.”

“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.”

“Shit damn fuck-a-damn fuck-a-damn damn.”

“Fuuuuck.”

Vanessa Hyde had disappeared.


	2. The Appearance

Rebecca knew she should call the police. Call the Aunt’s. Call anybody.

She sat at the kitchen table with her head on the wood, thinking.

Ness had an old hermiting habit, but she’d never up and leave without some kind of warning. There wasn’t even a note. She was just gone.

The woman slammed her hands into her table- how the fuck was she supposed to explain this to anyone? The agony of imagining telling Vanessa’s family, their Coven, the writer’s fans… it felt like it would shatter her. This was such bullshit! Her best friend vanishes without a trace, without a passing, and she was left to deal with all the backlash alone? Her emotions spiraled wildly through her shaking body.

Her inner fire roared at the unfairness of the challenge the universe had provided her. Every obstacle she and Vanessa had faced on their long journey had felt equal to their strength and dispositions. This? This felt like a half-finished thought or a suspended lucid dream.

Where could she have gone?

_ I should call the cops _ , she thought.

_ What are they gonna do? _ Her furious mind replied. 

They would put out a missing person report. Look for a reason for her to be gone, or who would have taken her, how and why- all the questions that had literally no answers. Even stoned, there would be some sign if someone was responsible for her disappearance. And she would never abandon the life she’d so carefully built without warning. The police would hold out their empty palms and say there is nothing they can do. They wouldn’t even know where to look.

Vanessa Hyde’s face would paint the screens for a few weeks, and then nothing. Her file would be tucked away in some police station, everyone who knew her wondering forever- what happened?

_ Unacceptable _ , Rebecca’s soul screamed. It slowly worked its way up her throat inch by inch until it scorched her throat like a red hot brand.

It squeaked between her teeth, but she didn’t let it erupt. The pressure cleared her head and the grind of her teeth quieted the roaring in her ears.

In the place within her that sparkled with her connection to the celestial cosmos, she whispered most fervently:  _ Anyone who can hear me, please, Dear Gods, please I need help. Help me find my friend… _

In the deepness, she felt a tickle, a tingle, a brush of consciousness- something very different from the ancient presences that guided her before. It was a piece of melody she had never heard. It was… old. Powerful. When she opened her eyes, she was staring at the ceiling, laying on the kitchen table.

The panic was gone, but the worry remained. She climbed off the table and set the kettle on the stove. Tea was an important ritual and it gave her patience. Rebecca sat down at the table with a hot cuppa and listened.

_ Wait _ , it echoed,  _ wait. I am coming. _

* * *

When it came, it was like she’d never expected.

It was time to feed the cats, Charlie and Eleanor prowling at her feet impatient as ever. Benatar sat in the corner of the dining room across from the food bowls, staring thoughtfully at this new Rebecca. A woman in limbo, trusting that her intuition was not wrong.

Help was coming.

It had to.

She dumped the food into the low food bowls and reached to check the water. It was a fancy fountain water bowl that had a replaceable filter and everything- another chore she and Vanessa had shared.

The tired woman rested her head up against the light wood cabinet and breathed deeply. Trust was not something she gave very freely. Control something she gave even less. In a situation where she had absolutely no control, it was unimaginable that she could give any trust to anyone- but she trusted the Gods and the Universe- and that Vanessa was alive and fighting to come back any way she could. She’d trust that.

She sat back and watched the cats munch, even Bennie daintily eating the dry food under her weary gaze.

Bringing her knee up, she rested her elbow and curled her fist into her leaning cheek, processing an intrusive thought.

Her eyebrow rose as the thought progressed. It rolled off her tongue incredulously.

“Where the fuck is Katniss?”

_ WHOOSH!  _ _ WHEEOOOOSHHHHHFWOOO WHEEOOOOOSHHHHHFWOOOO! _

Glass shattered. Books scattered. Pictures fell from the walls and papers danced.

Rebecca fell to her back as the two youngest screeched and ducked for cover.

“Fuck!”

_ DUMMMmmmm...HOOEEEWWW HOOEEEWWW HOOEEEWWW HOOEEWWew HOOEEWeeweew veeoom-eeoom veeoom-eeoom brrrrrRRRRRRR biw biw biw _ .

Cat Benatar sat utterly still, eyes fixed on the center of the vortex of energy that filled the open space that connected the kitchen and dining room to the back patio. Her tail curled in curiosity as the human gasped for breath.

_ Okay, Universe- a little warning? _

Yet when she sat up, spraddle-legged and wild-haired, for a moment she felt nothing but astonishment.

_ It can’t be. It can’t be here.  _

But it was.

She’d seen police boxes in other places, of course. It seemed out of place in a house, but what sent waves of awe and shock through her mind and body, was the dark, beautiful blue color of its wood.

It settled like it had always been there and the energy slowly faded, leaving behind only the racing of her heart and a sudden, surprised silence.

_ An impossible problem with an impossible solution. That’ll do. _

Becca’s mind suddenly consumed the image of the broken mess around the TARDIS and took a silent gasp in.  _ The Auntie’s are going to kill me. I can already hear their fury in my ears. I knew the cats had a psychic connection with them. They know I wrecked their house and lost their niece. Oooh, I’m dead. D E A D. Gods protect me. _

WHAM!

“I tell you, I park just well on my own despite difficulties, see?” Came a quarrelish brogue from inside the box. It was a voice she would know anywhere and she threw her most fervent thanks to the Gods that watched over her.

Two figures emerged one after another- just how she knew they would as the second voice, mellow and sweet, carried over the man’s shoulder. “You say that and yet, once again my love, you have wrecked someone’s living space.” The raised eyebrows and carefully pursed lips were so clear in the voice that when she first saw them, she had to rest back on her elbows. Things felt fuzzy and she was sure it was just the after-effects of the warp in time and space. “And you knocked her to the ground, tsk, dramatics every time.”

_ Breathe, Bec, breathe. _

“Ah, hello, are you in charge here? Thank you, I got an emergency call. What seems to be the problem?” The spry almost elderly Scotsman in his clean pressed suit and starched white collar asked politely, kneeling down to speak at eye level.

She started in surprise and wished something had come out of her mouth that was wittier than, “Uhhh…” 

Alas, she needn’t have worried, for although Professor River Song was looking down at her compassionately, the Doctor was not speaking to her. He was speaking to Cat Benatar.

It took all her willpower not to give into giggles that she knew would sound hysterical. She swallowed them with effort and sat up, still looking at the beautiful Time Lady who waited with what looked like infinite patience. 

“Uh-I- ehem- I called. Not the cat. My- My name is Rebecca Smalls-”

Professor Song reached out, eyes sparkling and a smile on her generous lips, “On your feet, dear. You look a bit dazed.” Touching her and feeling her warmth brought reality slamming back into focus.

The Doctor was still communing with Cat Benatar, and even the two younglings came out from their various hiding places, curiosity winning over caution- especially with Bennie acting in a way she never had before when strangers arrived. 

“Holy shit, you are really here. You really heard me.” Becca choked, letting the last lingering bit of denial float away. She was not facing this alone.

River Song gazed at Rebecca, reading her face with a soft smile. The Doctor stood and brushed himself off turning to face the two women. His wild eyebrows looked recently tamed and his lined face stern. Steely blue eyes raked over her for a moment and the Time Lord grinned. “Expecting someone else?”

“I was expecting someone, anyone, but I had no idea. It’s you though. Both of you. Just- how?” She stood beneath another piercing gaze that gave her a moment to read him in return.

He tapped his nose, “You’re one of them, eh?”

“Huh?” The question threw her and she blinked.

He nodded. “Mhmm. that’s it. Of course, she brought us here on the double. Lucky thing with us in the middle of-”

“Darling, let’s not go there. She heard the TARDIS and the TARDIS listened in return. I believe we have something to discuss?” The Professor interrupted, picking a dining chair up and setting it straight.

The Doctor snorted and pulled from his coat- his sonic glasses. Seeing them, Rebecca knew what her intuition had been trying to tell her, why she had to be patient. The human component of her formula had been false.

There was an alien in the house.

“Not much to discuss, my dear. Beings disappearing without a trace for heretofore unknown reasons. We find the trail and then we follow it. Simple.” Rebecca hiccuped a small laugh. She felt like she knew everything about these people, yet she didn’t know why. She only knew that they had come when she had cried for help. Wherever Vanessa was, the Doctor would help get her back. That’s what he did- save people.

“It’s my friend- my best friend, Vanessa. She disappeared yesterday. And- and one of my Aunt’s cats is missing. The doors were locked, nothing out of place. There is nowhere to begin looking on my own that I haven’t checked already.” Jamming a hand through her wildly curling hair, Becca watched as his lenses swept over the mess, scanning the walls and floors. 

River Song placed a hand on her shoulder. “They will be found. This man knows what he is doing.” The tall young woman nodded, “I know. I know him and his skill. Just like I know you.”

“You  _ are _ one of them. A powerful one. Wonderful, truly.” Her cryptic reply made Becca shake her head and huff a touch of laughter. “What?”

A thump in the bathroom startled her, and the Doctor came crawling out with his fingers curled like paws. “Fascinating.”

He crawled across the floor into the guest bedroom and Rebecca allowed her eyebrows to raise in mild surprise and delight. Never would she believe that this would be something she’d bear witness to with her own eyes.

The Professor chuckled to herself and oh, it was as musical as she knew it would sound. “I-I wonder what kind of alien got her, I mean, them.” She amended, casting a quick glance at the watching kitties gathered on the counter.

“No idea,” The Professor sighed. “He’ll have something soon I’m su-”

“Well, well.” A muffled accent intoned and that was all Becca needed, moving to the doorway. That tone was interested, yet unconcerned. She knew that he would maintain the unconcerned for as long as possible, but the interested was something she could follow.

“You know where they went? What took them?” Breathless and dizzy with what felt like whiplash, Becca reigned in her desperation and showed the Doctor only her calm calculation.

He looked at her with his attack eyebrows ready. “No, no idea. Only that this is the beginning of the trail and where it ends is hidden. My guess, and my guess is always very good, your friends are on the other side.”

The Doctor waited, gauging her carefully. Reading her, always reading. She was new and newness was both captivating and dangerous. She cocked her chin as she accepted and integrated the knowledge.

“Alright, is there a way to find out before crossing?”

“No. I would have said so otherwise.”

Becca nodded. “Let’s go then. Ness is probably freaked and I cannot imagine how Katniss is dealing. She’s not been away from her territory in… mmm, a long time. She doesn’t do excitement very well in her dotage.” The Doctor choked and River chortled from behind her.

Maybe that was rude, a little voice whispered underneath the ecstatic joy of knowing that  _ she _ had made River Song laugh. Rebecca felt forever changed. 

“Miss Smalls, if you please to this side of the bed.”

His voice was crisp and polite, and his eyes continued to gaze at her with calm and curiosity as she moved to do as he asked. “Are you comfortable running in those shoes?” 

She looked down at her beautiful patent leather dress shoes and ran dozens of her scenarios through her mind about what she might find under the bed. “Hold on.” Moving to the closet, Bec nabbed her well-worn sneakers and a pair of her gym socks. She quickly replaced her dress attire with that more suitable for running from hostile aliens.

The Doctor eyed her up and down, her expensive pantsuit and rumpled silk shirt pair with beat up practice shoes. He smiled, “Fashionable.”

“Ready for anything is my style choice,” she replied grinning. “Hear, hear.” The Professor chimed in, lifting Charlie into her arms and scritching under his chin. “Let me know what you find on the other side and I will rendezvous with you when you’ve found Vanessa and Katniss.” Eleanor wiggled between Professor Song’s feet and stared at Rebecca. “I will keep the little ones out of trouble while you are gone.”

The tall young woman smiled gratefully and turned her attention fully to the Doctor. “Rebecca. I want you to promise me that whatever we find on the other side of this bread crumb trail, you will listen to everything I say and do exactly as I tell you.”

She knew she should immediately agree, but she took a moment to carefully consider what this promise would mean. “I promise to listen to everything you say and do what you tell me to do as I agree with it.” His brow crinkled, “Fair.”

“Worry not, Doctor. I am a scientist, a Witch,  _ and _ a rugby player. I got this.”

“I have no doubts. River, you know what the old girl needs. Have fun with the cats- off we go.” The Doctor knelt down and ushered Becca to do the same. “Be safe.” The Professor said as she pet T’Charles thoughtfully.

Just before The Doctor began to shimmy beneath the bed board, he pinned his companion in place with his fathomless stare. “Are you afraid of the dark, Rebecca?”

She hid her shaking fingers by fixing her crooked collar, “No, not the dark. It’s the unknown that does it for me- but I’m trying to keep it chill and have faith. My best friend needs me. I don’t need to know more than that.”

“You seem like a good friend to have in a tight spot.” He said, putting his arms into the fuzzy darkness beneath the guest bed.

Rebecca chuckled, “You are too. Shall we?” She reached beneath the bed and pulled herself forward as he did.

“Geronimo!” The Doctor crowed.


	3. Under

Gravity feels strange inside alien technology. After a body length, Rebecca came upon a drop that snatched her like an amusement park drop tank. “Doc-?!!!”  _ SWOOSH. _

Like a swirly slide made of black butter, she zoomed through the darkness, gravity not pulling her down, but forward. The woman allowed her terror free reign, holding her arms out and in front of her face, waiting for the terrible moment she would never see coming, that she went splat in the dark. Under different circumstances, she may have found it exhilarating- but all she could think was, what if this was eternity and she had just made a terrible decision?

_ I have to trust the Doctor. Vanessa’s life depends on it. _

Hurtling through what may have been time and space, Rebecca clung to her connection to the Universe, praying that she was strong enough to hold onto herself.

Faster and faster, her eyebrows stretching for her hairline and her mouth aching from the clench of her jaw, almost unable to breathe at the speed she raced through the darkness.

A moment of anticipation slammed into Rebecca’s gut and she flung her arms around her head.

_ SHWOOMP! _

It was not a splat that met her, but suddenly blinding light and an eye-watering stench as she burst into… somewhere.

Some of her old training kicked in as she curled herself into a roll and slowed her bullet paced entrance. Strange colors flashed around her skull until she finally came to rest in what seemed to be a very strange kind of forest.

Rebecca tried to take some deep breaths to stop the dizziness but had to bite down sudden nausea as her olfactory senses reacted to the enveloping smell of the place she had landed. Clamping her hand over her nose, she gasped and rolled to her side. It was a little better, breathing through her mouth.

When she felt firmly anchored in her body once more and aware of her status as a living being, she found it in her to sit up and catalog the strangeness around her.  _ I swear I climbed under the bed into an acid dream- what the fuck? _

Strangely shaped mushrooms built the forest around her, some as big as redwoods, others as delicate as a birch. She saw fascinating clumps of what she thought were flowers, but they had scales like a fish, and strange draping plants that reminded her of Spanish moss, but were colored like a Dr. Seuss novel.

Beneath her feet, the soil was a mix of dark indigo and electric blue, providing contrast to the warm orange grass that covered the area, looking more like fur than the grass she knew back home. Looking above the tops of the shroom trees and their zainny colors, Becca felt in her bones the reality of where she was.

The sky of this world was a warm golden color, matched with an intense blue sun, and the vibrant colossus’ of other planets like paintings wrought from horizon to horizon.

_ Holy shit… I am on a completely different world… maybe a completely different part of the Universe. _

It was a curious range of emotions that rose in her, between wild joy and utter terror, teetering her on the edge of hysteria. She knew she had a choice at that moment- give in and have the pressure release of a panic attack or wrangle her emotions down and concentrate on why she was here, possibly putting off the panic attack until later.

_ I have to find the Doctor. _

The glaring intrusive thought gave her the motivation and the focus to breathe and force the assimilation of her surroundings. Even the smell began to lose its sharpness after a little while. She could still smell whatever it was that smelled so bad, but it became muted and manageable, like an unpleasant aftertaste.

_ I have to find the Doctor. We have to find Vanessa. Where the Hell could he have ended up? _ Rebecca turned in her place and thought hard, taking in more of the alien scenery. There was no movement to indicate that the Doctor had exited the Super Slip N' Slide of Darkness anywhere near her.

She backtracked her exit to find where she emerged from and found a peridot colored cave shaped like an upside-down teardrop, the stone growing from the side of a hairy hill. The inside of the cave looked fuzzy and endless so she didn’t try to go inside it, instead laying a curious hand on the side.

Rebecca gasped when, at the gentle impact of her hand, ripples fanned out and shivered across the whole rock face. The stone felt cool to the touch, but not solid as stone should be. It felt like pressing into a waterbed.

After a few minutes of thinking furiously, Becca angled herself away from the cave and the fuzzy hill from which it protruded. She would do her best to remember where this cave was located because it might be a way out if they couldn’t find another- but standing here wouldn’t do anyone any good. She had to get moving.

She took a step, then another, headed into the mushroom forest, counting out loud.

“One, two, three, four…”

* * *

“... 589, 590, 591, 592…” The young woman’s voice echoed queerly in the silence surrounding her. She carefully counted her steps and did her best to keep to a straight path through the looming sentinels.

As she counted, her mind worked overtime trying to note and catalog the strangeness around her. The wild flora around her was enough to make the scientist in her wish for her sampling kit and a microscope. Shimmering green, feather light vines that climbed the base of some of the larger mushrooms mesmerized her eyes and the pulse of energy that vibrated around her made it hard to concentrate on her footsteps. The numbers that filled the air seemed so flimsy a lifeline, it made her mouth dry. It was like the forest of mushrooms was aware that she was there, but it didn’t much care who or what she was. Yet, Rebecca was a witch and she knew the truth echoing around her-  _ do no harm and no harm will be done to you _ .

At 600 paces, she ripped another strip from her shirt sleeves and tied it very carefully around a smaller specimen of the mushrooms, this one the color of steel with lime green spikes erupting from its cap.

A bread crumb trail- the best she could come up with as she ventured into an utterly foreign land with no guidance on whether she was going in the right direction. Possibly a way for the Doctor to follow her trail if he could catch up to her from wherever he had ended up. Rebecca hoped his landing had been as relatively streamlined as hers.

And she desperately prayed she wasn’t wandering off into an alien wilderness from which she would not escape. Vanessa would be at turns furious and heartbroken to learn that her best friend had come to her rescue, only to die from lack of directions.

_ Ness, where are you in this strange world? _

At 682 paces, Becca felt the hairs rise on her arms and the back of her neck. The predator in her knew immediately that someone- some _ thing _ \- was watching her. She was glad to know her instincts hadn’t fled upon entering a new world, but her heartbeat pounded in her ears as fear of the unknown gripped her bones tightly.

An animal call that sounded like a hooting monkey echoed above her and Bec did her best not to start or flinch at the sound.  _ Show no fear _ , she told her fast-beating heart and clenched muscles. Slowly, she turned her head and observed the area around her, not losing count as she did.

If there was movement out there, she saw none, and there was no answer to the sound she had heard before. There was only the forest and its alien energy around her.  _ What the fuck am I doing here? _ Her brain asked and Rebecca fumbled with the answer. She had to find the Doctor and she had to find Vanessa- somewhere in this world, they were waiting for her and one way or another she had to find them.

Her resolve was enough to slow her heart rate and ease the aching tension in her muscles. Whatever was watching wasn’t going to stop- and neither was she. Rebecca left another marker at 700 paces and continued counting.

She didn’t pass 800 though, as she strode forward. At 774, Rebecca was halted by a dark yellow spear in her face, the tip smeared with fluorescent white.

_ Fuck _ .

Her heart and mind stumbled as she came face to face with her first alien race- aside from the Time Lord who was so conspicuously missing from this leg of her adventure. That meant she would have to observe and improvise.

The creatures, whose name she did not know yet, were vaguely humanoid. There were at least ten of them that she could see, strung out in a semicircle around her, each one of them armed with spears tipped in what she could only assume was poison.

Studying her closest specimen, she observed them to be at most a foot shorter than her and all were wearing the same dark red cloth that covered them from just above their chest to their hips. No noticeable genitalia between their legs and all of them had relatively the same build- slim and wirey, almost boney; with skin the color of darkened mahogany that she expected would have the texture of tree bark. Their feet reminded her of a velociraptor’s with three large toes and one wickedly sharp claw protruding from the middle one, while their hands (which disturbed her more than the feet) looked like human hands but… backwards. Where humans walk most naturally with palms facing our sides or behind us, theirs seemed to be the opposite with the same range of motion as a human's. Her eyes lingered on how the spears were held at the ready, trained on her.

The alien closest to her barked out what sounded like a question in a rough nasally tone. She had no idea what they had asked. It was a language unlike any she had heard before.

Looking at their faces, Rebecca had a strange shock of familiarity. They reminded her of childhood shows with little green men- large craniums, eyes that took up most of their faces, no discernable nose or ears, and a lipless mouth. She took note of the whorls of lighter and darker browns that looked different on each alien’s form, like a fingerprint.

If she had to describe their eyes, she had one word-  _ fascinating _ .

Becca watched as they shimmer and changed color like a gas fire stove, rippling from one shade to the next, observing her just as much as she did them. A thin membrane swiped sideways across their eye from outer corner to inner in a flash and the young scientist wished dearly that the Doctor was here, if only because then she could speak their language and ask them questions about their race, because  _ wow _ .

Another alien spoke to the one nearest to her and the spear dipped closer to her chest, the white substance giving off a pungent aroma that scalded the top of her mouth. It asked the same question it had before, eyes shimmering dangerously.

“I, uh, I come in peace. Please- I am not a threat. I’m lost and I need help- can you understand me?” She asked, applauding how calm she sounded. Inside, she was fairly certain these aliens were about to make her mushroom fertilizer.

Strange language was thrown around her and she was utterly unable to tell if it was good or bad. There were no tonal qualities or syntax she recognized and they could have been talking about killing and eating her, and she would have no idea.

The spear did move away from her chest though and she took it as a good sign.

_ Remain calm, you can get through this _ , she told herself. _ I am not meant to die on a strange planet without accomplishing anything. _

A few moments more she remained in strained silence as the aliens discussed her before one of them called over the rest, “ _ Daiya Neissss. _ ” Followed by the group repeating the words, lingering ominously on the ssss, sounding like a choir of snakes. It sent frightened shivers across her whole body.

They lowered their spears and thumped the butts to the ground in unison, before the two sides of the semicircle converged around her and Rebecca found herself surrounded by possibly hostile aliens. One of them looked at her, eyes a shifting green-gold, and motioned to follow- she took it to possibly be a leader as she noted the sharp ridges that grew out of its face, right about where its temples might be and curved up like little horns.

She nodded slowly and did as she was bid, the aliens marching her along. It was a surreal, terrifying experience.

But Rebecca did not stop counting.

* * *

She knew she couldn’t expect anything and really did her best not to. Yet upon exiting the mushroom forest and tramping through some strange wobbling hills, Rebecca was rendered breathless upon seeing where she was being led to.

_ Ah, Nessa, I hope you’re here. _

In a wide, circular valley with ridges adorned with what she saw as cloud puffs, Becca caught her first glimpse of alien civilization. Her mind categorized it into Wonderland meets El-dorado with a bit of Dr. Seuss. She picked out strange monuments made of waterbed stone, giant spiral sculptures that she couldn’t begin to guess the material, and bridges- so many bridges made of woven fibers, like one would find in a society that lived in and through nature. She saw no recognizable domiciles from high atop the valley ridge, but as they descended and she got a good look at the city, she found it a bustling epicenter of the same aliens that had caught her.

Like a spider web, Becca saw the bridges connecting what she saw as elaborate tree (not trees though) houses that stuck straight up in the air all across the valley. In its center rose the tallest of them, like an obelisk of deepest iridescent blue, crowning itself in two conical points. 

Her guard took her into the East side of the city where Rebecca noted most of the aliens wearing the same red cloth. Here and there she saw different colors, like green, white, and yellow. Her presence drew quite a few stares and strange undulations followed where they went, accompanied by the hissing that made her skin crawl.

Though she still could not differentiate sex, she easily identified the children, who scrambled and hid whenever her guard approached. They were tiny things that crawled on their strange hands and feet, their claws just little nubs on their toes. Their voices were like little sprites amid the harsher staccato tones of the adults.

_ I wonder if the Doctor is here, or if he is gallivanting around the wilderness looking for me. _ Becca sincerely hoped that the Time Lord would come to her aid in this place if she wound up in truly deep shit.

Occasionally one of her rear-guards would give her a rough shove with the butt of their spear, when she would be so entranced by watching the city around and above her that she would slow down to try and take it all in. It seemed they didn’t appreciate her awe and wonder, but they had it nonetheless.

Their city was beautiful.

It felt like it took forever, and Becca finally felt overwhelmed with all the sights and sounds of this alien city, when they came to the center citadel and she became aware of something very familiar lounging around the city.

When an alien saw one, they curved over in a strange bow, hands and foreheads to the ground before skittering away. None were touched, if they moved everyone moved out of the way for them, and it was clear that they held strange importance to these aliens. The population of them was denser as they went further in and it was hard for Rebecca to wrap her head around what she was seeing, and there again she chided herself for expectations.

But really? Cats?

Oh yes- cats.

Of every breed, shape, size, and color, she saw them draped wherever they wanted to be with their slitted eyes lazily watching the beings around them. They didn’t react to her presence and she didn’t expect them to. If there was one thing she knew better than pretty much anything else, it was cats.

What she could not understand for the life of her, was what the hell these cats were doing on another  _ planet  _ and why there were so  _ many _ of them.

An orange tabby crossed the walkway her group was leading her down and all of her guards immediately placed their spears down and bowed as it went. She did not bow to the cat and the hissing she heard increased in intensity. Before she could do something to recover, her guard resumed their stance and moved her along quickly. The cat had passed and looked over its shoulder at her, eyes shining with feline disdain.

_ I might already be in truly deep shit, Doctor. Where are you? _

Rebecca reigned in her exhaustion and her emotions, knowing that whatever happened next, she needed to be ready.

At the base of the citadel, she saw a wide-mouthed entrance that would fit three RV’s through it side by side. Misty blue light swirled out from it and she wondered where it came from. She hadn’t seen any fire or electric sources in her short tour of the city, so she wondered how they lit their nights on this planet. Their sun was no longer in the sky where she could see it, so she knew she would find out soon. The sunset made the richest caramel color and the neighboring planets began to glow faintly.

The guards began to move her forward when the leader started talking (shouting?) at another group, wearing purple cloth around their abdomen. Once again, she ground her teeth at the frustration of not being able to understand what was being said. Yet, she observed them and easily came to the conclusion that the two aliens were fighting about  _ something _ .

Rebecca hoped it wasn’t her.

“ _ Daiya Neissss _ !” Both aliens shouted at each other eventually and it became all she heard and could comprehend, and since those words had kept them from killing her she was grateful for their cadence, even if it still sounded  _ very _ creepy.

It was even creepier when repeated by the throngs of other aliens around her, echoing back into the city.

On some agreement or another, both groups moved as one inside the citadel. The purple group was carrying something between them that she could not see, but from the sound of it, it was  _ heavy _ .

The inside of the obelisk felt like the inside of a cave, cool and moist, and as Becca looked up to seek the source of the light, she was met with the sight of a whole ceiling made of glowing clouds, as intangible as mist, but opaque and luminous. 

As they went in, others were streaming out, holding insubstantial balls of the glowy mist in their hands. It absolutely boggled Rebecca’s mind, but there she had her answer.

Walking down the long hall, the young woman’s sense of surrealism overtook her and she was absolutely sure she was in a dream. There is no way she had actually seen and heard everything she had since leaving the Aunties’ house.

The chittering voices around them rose like a wave and quieted as they passed further and further in. At the end of the hall, Rebecca took in what looked like a raised dais the same color as the aliens around her, whose occupants were curtained off by large swathes of the same cloth all the adult aliens around had been wearing, in every color she had seen.

The two groups stopped about ten feet before the dais and the leader of the red group turned to face her. “You will be presented to the Prophetess for judgment and it is my duty to execute the orders of the Gods, whatever they may be. Do you understand, creature?” The leader said in a gravelly voice- in perfect English.

Double take. “Ahhhh… what?”

The leader blinked at her and cocked its small chin. “Curious. Do you understand?”

Rebecca blinked back and considered if she had just had a mental breakdown. “Um, yes, I think I do?” She replied.  _ How the fu- _

From the center of the purple group, a head popped up from a horizontal position. “Rebecca?”

She knew those eyebrows in an instant. “Doctor?” Her voice sounded both dry as a desert and also on the verge of tears.

_ Oh, I think I am in need of a nap, I’m not able to keep my emotions chill anymore. _

“You know this other creature?” Both lead aliens demanded at the same time, sounded affronted. The Doctor smiled, “It is as I was telling you, my friend. I had lost my companion and I was looking for her when you invited me to your lovely city.”

“You were not _ invited _ . We  _ captured _ you and have brought you to be  _ judged _ by the God of Gods. Tremble before them, creature.” The purple leader spat toward the lackadaisical Doctor. The red leader continued to look to Becca for her explanation.

She cleared her throat. “I do know this man, and I am his companion,” Rebecca felt a burst of joy with that statement, “We were lost and looking for each other, so thank you for your aid in finding him.” It was impossible to read the alien’s face, but they did not react harshly the way the other leader had. “Acknowledged. You will both be presented to the Prophetess and receive your judgment as one. Akam, release the other one.”

The purple leader hissed, “I do not take orders from you, Karash! This wretch will greet the God of Gods on its belly, as should that one. Your weakness is apparent!” The red guards stirred dangerously upon hearing these words.

The red leader, Karash, hissed and clicked furiously. “You dare challenge me, Akam! Before the Bone Throne, you challenge  _ me _ ?!” Their wickedly sharp claws tapped the ground as if dancing. All around them, claws began to thud into the dark ground like a fight chant. Becca’s eyes caught a drift of movement behind the curtain and a hushed murmur floated from somewhere.

“Bettians will not spill the blood of any color before the Bone Throne without license from the Gods, which has not been granted. Petitioners before the Prophetess will be judged on their hind appendages. This is law.” A deep booming voice echoed through the space, and all the noise and whispers were suddenly silenced.

Stepping out from the right corner of the multicolored curtain came what Becca immediately identified as an elder… Bettian? She could see the dulled claws, still polished, and the sharp horns that rose high above their head. The cloth around their abdomen was of deepest black and both the leaders bowed to the elder, but did not put their foreheads to the ground.

Akam, the purple leader, jerked their hand in a strange motion and the purple guard set the Doctor to the ground with a heavy thump, revealing that the Time Lord was bound by hands and feet to a cross made of vine wrapped mushroom. He seemed content as a cucumber. “Thank you. I believe we are ready to be presented!”

Both leaders tensed. “Insolence.” One of them hissed, but Rebecca could not figure who it was.

The guards and leaders then carefully moved away, to the sides of the hall- all eyes were fixed upon the curtain with deep reverence.

The black-clothed Elder tapped the dais forcefully with his claws and made a grand sweeping motion. “Behold the God of Gods, the only worthy to sit upon the Bone Throne of Hashbet, whose grace yours lives depend on- and the Prophetess, the Voice of the Gods on this Plane. May She See True.”

“May She See True.” Echoed the fervent Bettians who gathered at the sides of the grand hall of the citadel. Every color beheld as the curtain was pulled aside, revealing a God and the Prophetess.

Rebecca had steeled herself to argue for their lives as the curtain moved, but all her words clogged her throat as she looked upon the dais, made from the bodies of the Bettains themselves, upon the throne made of the same.

_ This bitch has got to be kidding me. _


	4. Cult

Rebecca and the Doctor looked upon the Bettian throne, and the young woman had to stifle the hysterical laughter that had haunted her since she had exited the darkness under the bed.

The Doctor glanced at her from the corner of his eye, curious and interested. He knew from her face what she would tell him if she could.

Indolent and fierce, Katniss laid her full girth across the Bone Throne, tail swishing slowly as she gazed upon her supplicants. And standing next to the throne, wearing black cloth like the elder- was Vanessa Hyde. 

Her black cloth covered her from the middle of her chest to just below her thighs, and unlike the Bettians, her cloth wrapped all the way around her frighteningly thin frame, little black dress style. Her dark hair had grown to below her knees and was braided and wrapped in materials from Hashbet. Rebecca could see the horns braided behind her ears so they jutted up over her cheekbones. There were other ornaments adorning her arms and legs, made from Bettian bone and unrecognizable flora. It wasn’t the hair or the clothes that Bec knew as very different from the Vanessa she had seen yesterday.

Ness had always had scars, but never like this.

Their eyes met and there was instant recognition. Rebecca wished she could read all the emotions that burned in Nessa’s green eyes, but there was an audience that had no idea the performance they were about to witness. Whatever words and understanding they had to share, it would have to wait until later.

Vanessa moved with a studied grace to stand before Katniss sprawled on an alien throne, where she sank into a Bettian bow, a low hum emerged from deep in her chest. This hum was taken up by the Elder and soon spread around the great hall, sounding like thunder in Rebecca’s ears.

The Doctor’s face was serious, but there was a light in his eyes as if he was asking,  _ well, what’s next? _

The rumbling around the hall grew louder as Nessa rose to her feet and went to Katniss’ side, taking one of her grey paws in hand.

_ Oh no… _

Rebecca watched with horror and fascination as Ness expertly pushed the fat cat’s claws out and placed them on a clean spot of skin outside of her right knee. In a flash, she raked those claws across her flesh, tearing her skin open and letting her blood flow freely down her leg. The noise in the room rose to a fevered pitch, the scent of her blood somehow rising over the pungency of the Bettian’s scent, a rusty smell that carried around the hall.

As solemnly as the Priestess she was, she gathered her blood in her fingers and anointed the scars that traveled her face. Three long ones across her cheeks, two diagonal scars above each eyebrow creating a V across her forehead, and three down her chin from just below her bottom lip.

Becca knew those, at least, were not cat scratches like the rest of her new scars seemed to be.

These aliens had mutilated her best friend’s face, to give her scars like whiskers.

These scars she traced in blood, taking a deep breath in as the Bettians grew wild with the fervor. Becca wanted to cry, wanted to scream and rage, but she held her peace and waited to see what would happen next.

At the peak of the frenzy, Nessa threw out her bloody hands, the way Rebecca had seen the priestess raise her arms to embrace her Goddess- and the silence that followed was deafening.

“I am the Prophet Ness, Speaker of the Gods- hear now the words of Fatniss, God of Gods, ruler of the Gods of Hashbet.” Her voice resounded through the hall and Becca could feel the Bettians lean forward to embrace what Vanessa Hyde told them as Truth.

“Fatniss has looked into the hearts, minds, and souls of these creatures brought before us and has seen their purpose. They come to this sacred city to be reborn and through the knowledge bestowed upon them, they shall ascend and bring new peace to Hashbet. The God of Gods commands to show them the respect you show the Prophetess and that for three days the light of Rushar shall be dimmed across every divide as you reflect on your role in Fatniss’ Peace. The Truth has been heard and now it must be carried. Go forth in Fatniss’ trust.”

Nessa clapped her hands together loudly. “She Has Seen True.” Her congregation called and the Bettian’s began to move in their respective units toward the entrance.

“You can tell the Gods were guiding Her voice- I’ve not heard her speak so clearly before! Incredible!” Variations of such expression were voiced all around her and Becca could only grimace at the tragic comedy she found herself wrapped up in.

The Doctor turned his head to her, “Are you alright?”

Becca nodded.

He looked to the Bone Throne. “Is that them?”

“That’d be them. I feel like it was so easy to find them, and yet it really wasn’t.” She replied, still numb from the tumult of emotions she had rocketed through since… yesterday? Whenever. “I think I need a nap.”

The Doctor chuckled softly, but turned grim, “I think a nap is in good order. You’ll need to be at your best to help get your friend out of the absolute poppycock she has entangled herself into.”

He might have said more, but the Elder Bettian motioned for them to come closer to the dais. “The God of Gods has spoken. Come accept the Blessing of Fatniss and receive your names.” They intoned and Nessa wet her fingers from the cuts once more.

There was power and tension in the air like Becca had never known when thin, weary Vanessa, her best friend, stepped down one step and held out her hands to them. “You have come from across the stars to take your rightful place. Come before me and receive the blessing of the Gods.” She called and with strange reluctance, Becca went to stand before her friend.

Vanessa traced the same pattern that was carved across her own face onto Rebecca, with apology, relief, and endless questions in her tired eyes. “Speak as the Gods bid and share your truth with the sacred people of Hashbet. Rise as Prophetess Bex and go forth in Fatniss’ care. May you see true.”

Rebecca lowered her head to Nessa and moved aside for the Doctor.

She saw the dark-haired woman’s eyes widen in shock as though she hadn’t recognized him down amongst her petitioners. Becca spotted how her bloody fingers trembled, tracing her blood on a Time Lord’s face. “Speak as the Gods bid and share your truth with the sacred people of Hashbet. Rise as Prophet Doc and go forth in Fatniss’ care. May you see true.” She whispered.

The Doctor pinned her with a bottomless stare and Vanessa visibly gulped before she turned to the Elder, “Bensh, check the records are correct and true. Ensure the Gods commands are carried through the city. I will take these newcomers and begin investing them in the mysteries of Fatniss.”

The Elder Bettian offered Vanessa a full bow before they moved away from the dais, their dull claws clicking against the bones of their people.

When they were gone, and only the rescuers and rescuees remained in the long hall of the Hasbettian citadel, Vanessa released a huge pent up gasp and went to pick Katniss up from her throne.

When she turned back to Becca and the Doctor with the fat cat in her arms, there were tears dripping down her cheeks. “I am so glad to see you here.” Her voice was so raw that tears immediately welled up and fell down Becca’s face in response. It felt so good to give a little.

The Doctor looked distinctly uncomfortable.

“Ladies, we should do the weeping and the questions answering somewhere more private.” He murmured to them rather gently. Vanessa started and sniffed. “Of course, come with me. I’m sorry, I just- I really couldn’t believe that I wasn’t alone anymore.”

She led them behind the Bone Throne to a small alcove whose floor was the same cloud the made up the ceiling, faintly glowing like a specter. Without hesitation, Nessa stepped onto the cloud as if it were just a mattress. It looked like any minute she would plummet through the mist into a dark hole.

“Trust me, you do not want to take the stairs,” She said, just a little snarky, and it eased something in Becca that had been clenched so tightly. Vanessa was okay. She had survived and held out until Becca had come to bring her home.

Becca took the Doctor’s hand when offered and they both climbed onto the cloud. “The first time is always a little funny, so just roll with it,” Ness told them as she reached down quickly and yanked some wispy white fibers up above her head.

The movement was entirely disconcerting and Becca’s nausea returned in full force as the group shot vertically. Even the Doctor looked a little green around the gills as Vanessa raised them high into the citadel. When she brought them to a stop, both newcomers stumbled from the alcove and laid on the cool floor.

The room, a large circle that opened to balconies on opposite sides, was decorated as richly as any royal apartments, but in the strangest materials and designs. Both the floors and walls were made of a grey fiber that was as firm as metal but had a faint fuzziness like peach skin. It was completely alien and all the furniture and additions were entirely catified. Multiple felines lounged around the entire space, high in fluffy canopies, or gazing out from beneath short bunches of spiraling mushrooms. Bits of cloud light were trapped in delicate crystal and cast faint purple-blue light all around the space.

“Make yourselves comfortable. I’ll get refreshments and then we’ll talk.” Nessa called briskly as she moved with manic confidence around the room, waving her hands over things and pulling materials from nowhere that Becca could see and understand.

A small tortoiseshell approached her and sniffed her hair, twitching her ears in confusion, and others emboldened by it began to eye both newcomers with curiosity and interest. None moved to do the same and approach, but one could almost watch them consider it.

When the Doctor sat up, his sonic glasses were on his face and he moved with alacrity to observe everything as quick as he could. “No listening devices or other signs of interference.”

There was a quiet ‘poof’ and Nessa’s voice came from behind a wiggling wall of bright turquoise. “The Bettians do not possess such technology, but even if they did, they would never dare to intrude upon their Gods in such a manner. You’ve probably seen enough to understand that they revere the feline species as Gods.”

“Yes, Ness, it's hard to miss that fact,” Becca replied, sounding a lot harsher than she had meant to. Why was she so angry?

The thin priestess returned to them holding a large platter with steaming cups of something pale yellow and bowls of some kind of gleaming pink meat.

She strode out to one of the balconies and the Doctor watched in fascination as all of the cats moved to follow her outside, Katniss leading the rest. On the wide platform, Becca saw a low table grown from the twisted wall and small platters dotting the grey railing, covered in something that resembled dark violet plastic. Vanessa set the cups on the table where the steam drifted in an uninterrupted stream into the dark watercolor sky and carefully placed the bowls of meat onto the platters, where the cats descended upon them like the predators they were. 

A broken moon loomed close in the sky, its pale light blurring the imprints of the other planets, except for the rings of one that cut through the horizon, blazing white and red streaks arching like rainbows.

The Doctor went to the table and sat on the ground, taking the cup and studying it.

"How long have you been here, Miss Hyde?” He asked as he would ask after the weather. It pulled the dark-haired woman up short and she motioned for her best friend to take a seat before her. When she sat, Vanessa raised the platter like a fan and looked dead at Becca, “Is that the Doctor? Like  _ The _ Doctor?” She mouthed, disbelief and slight panic widening her eyes. Becca nodded and stifled a chuckle at her friend’s expression.

She mouthed some interesting swear words before dropping the platter and looking at the older Scotsman that she continued to eye with vague suspicion. “I’ve been here 18 months, three weeks, and…” Ness glanced down at her feet, “Four days.”

“Plenty of time to get yourself into plenty of trouble,” the Doctor replied, and Rebecca wasn’t sure if that was really disapproval in his voice or if she just wasn’t used to all of his subtle personality changes yet. She wasn’t sure what Vanessa heard in his voice, but she didn’t look away from his darkening gaze. Becca had to count backward from 20 to keep her cool.  _ Eighteen months?? _ “A lot has happened as you can tell. But before I tell you both my part of the story, I am very, very interested in yours.”

Classic Ness, deflecting the uncomfortable talk until she knew all parts.

“Well, Nessa, here is the long and short of it- I came home yesterday to an empty house, with no sign of where you were or where you had gone, and I was so fucking  _ furious _ with you and desperate to find you to kick your  _ ass _ that I called the TARDIS and she answered, bringing some much needed help. Why the  _ fuck _ did you crawl under the bed and disappear like that?!” The words came out angry, hurt, and bewildered.

Before, Vanessa would have met those words with angry words of her own. She didn’t like being called to account in front of an audience, but the Doctor remained silent, still not drinking his ‘refreshment’- whatever it was.

Becca watched a new expression close over her best friend’s face, maybe new because of the way the scars hardened and stretched across her sharp cheekbones.

“I understand that it must have been frightening. I know you were frustrated because there were no clues and nothing you could do. Helplessness is terrifying and I have thought about what I could’ve, should’ve, and would’ve done every day since I came here. But this was not a decision I made with knowledge and I will not be blamed for how I disappeared. Of all the things that could have happened, this never crossed my mind. I couldn’t believe what kind of  _ shit _ luck I had run into.” Her eyes were frosty for a moment, but then they softened and her scars relaxed.

“But I did believe in  _ you _ , Bec. I knew if there was anyone who could bully the universe into giving some kind of answer, it would be you. Low and behold, you called and the fucking  _ TARDIS _ answered.”

The Doctor cleared his throat, “You two do like to swear a lot for such educated women.” There was definite disapproval in his eyes now.

They both had the grace to blush and he smiled slightly. Neither of them apologized for it though.

The righteous anger that had coiled in her sternum eased away, and Becca began to think of the strange bigger picture with astonishment. “That’s pretty much my whole side of it- the Doctor and Professor Song arrived (they also wrecked the Aunties’ house, sorry Ness) and he and I went under the bed, got separated, and I popped out here on Hashbet with no idea where the hell I was.”

Nessa’s jaw dropped and clicked shut, looking at the Doctor in frustration and nervousness at the thought of the Aunties’ home being disturbed. “Time passed differently here so I thought the Aunties had already come home a long time ago. I… I can’t believe it was only yesterday for you.” She whispered, her face turning vaguely haunted.

The Doctor sniffed his cup again, “The kind of warp travel we did to arrive here would certainly be dysphoric for anyone of Earthly decent. This is a dusty little corner of the universe- it is interesting to think that they have grown powerful enough to take living beings from another planet and bring them here safely. I’m not sure where you exited, Rebecca, but I came out of a hanging cave and landed in a wispy trap on a giant mushroom. Thus I was captured and brought here.” He finally took a sip and his mouth twisted and puckered.

Vanessa looked at him sympathetically, “Yenlin is an acquired taste, but it is the closest thing I have found to water here. I heard from Akam and Karash’s superiors that both of you were found in the Rensbar, making beelines for the Fields of Gold- which is why you both were taken into custody so forcefully. The Bettians are fiercely protective of that place.”

The taller woman took her own cup and sampled the Yenlin tea and found it to be a cross between barley hops, old lemon, and dirt. “Ugh, Ness, how do you drink this stuff like water?” The green-eyed stare leveled at her was its own kind of answer.

It’s not like there is a lot of choice on an alien planet if a human wanted to survive.

“Miss Hyde, I think it’s time for you to explain yourself.” The Doctor set his empty cup back on the strange table and pinned her to her seat. “I think I have heard enough from our flatmates, but I would like to hear your side.”

_ Flatmates? _ Becca raised an eyebrow in confusion at the Doctor, but caught the shine of feline eyes all around them and remembered that they were not alone in this penthouse room. The cats had cleaned out the bowls and had been watching the conversation with bright eyes and perked ears. The Doctor could also speak Cat. There had been two very different conversations going on at the same time.

Vanessa turned her cup in a circle a few times and took a sip. She wouldn’t meet their eyes and her fingers fiddled with the platter in her lap. “When I was home last, I remember realizing that Katniss had gone missing. I looked everywhere for her and I remember the bed in the guest room being the last place I checked. I knew it was weird, but I was still ignorant of the existence of real aliens and crawled under looking for the cat. You know how Aunt Lynn would react if I had lost fatty fat while she was gone, Bec.” The other woman nodded, knowing exactly the harsh retribution they both would have faced had the Aunties’ returned and any of their precious fur children had not been there.

It would not have been pretty.

“So I crawled under and was whisked away before I had the chance to wonder if this had been a mistake. I ended up to the North of the Rensbar with a barely living Katniss freaking the fuck out in the dandelion puff. I vaguely remember having a panic attack, and praying that I was only hallucinating. The first few hours were rough on my psyche.”

That must have been an understatement, judging from the flatness in her eyes.

“When the Bettians found me and Katniss, I could tell they had never had this happen before. They’ve been bringing cats here for a long while with these random warp portals, but I believe I am the first human to follow along. I couldn’t understand them and they couldn’t understand me, so they brought us both back here. They were in literal awe of Katniss and whenever she stared at them, they trembled and bowed before her. It was freaky and I was frankly terrified. Bensh was the first Bettian who could hold a conversation with me, stilted as it was, and to this day I still am not sure how They could understand even broken English. The first night I was here, the Hashbettians enthroned Katniss and began calling her the God of Gods.”

The Doctor motioned for her to take another drink and folded his hands, “I assume this is where you began to build your cult.” His voice was both kind and cutting at once, and Becca was curious why the Doctor was unhappy with Vanessa’s valiant attempts to keep herself alive. The priestess heard the tone and straightened her shoulders to meet his eyes. “Whatever I did, Doctor, I did to keep myself and Katniss alive. I didn’t know when or how someone would come to rescue us, so all I knew was that I needed to keep us alive as long as physically possible and I put many hours of anxious work into that goal. I had to have utter faith that I was right. It wasn’t easy- not by a long shot.” She sounded grim.

Rebecca leaned on the low table and gazed at this strange new version of her best friend. She was very different from the young woman the scientist had known on Earth. She had been through trials and tribulations on their home planet to be sure, but Becca wondered how being thrust into an alien environment completely on her own had changed her best friend. The toll of survival had reformed the writer into something harsher and somehow more absolute. Becca would have to learn to navigate this new person very carefully.

“So Bensh was able to communicate with you. How did you end up… like this?” Rebecca asked gently. Vanessa’s eyes met hers and she felt a barrage of emotion rocking the energy flowing between the three beings seated around the table.

Nessa sighed, “You are right, Doctor. The first night was when I made my first move to survive here and I used Bensh to do it. They are a highly respected Elder of the Bettian’s society and I spun them a tale as good as any I had ever written. I told them that I was able to commune with the cats and understand their desires. We did some very strange tests… and I baffled poor Bensh with my bullshit. It was enough to convince them that I was telling the truth and They installed me as the Prophetess and the caretaker of the Hashbettian Gods.”

Her right hand reached for a braid- bound in sapphire fiber that looked like silk, but glittered like diamonds hitting light- and yanked on it gently. “I learned a lot from Bensh, and I did my best to maintain my story, barely staying a thought ahead of the skeptics of the Inner City. I have to tell you, Rebecca, I can’t tell you how many times I pretended to talk to you, trying to remember all the lessons I had learned from you. I always felt like I was one step from being caught and sacrificed on this alien planet, so far from home…” Her grip on the braid tightened. “Thinking that no one would ever know what happened gnawed on me like an ulcer. If I died here, I would never get to explain. I would never finish my series. And I would be forgotten.”

Her voice was low and whispery, but Becca saw no tears in her eyes. What she could see was the endless months these words were pent up, only being voiced inside her head to someone put together by memories. Vanessa had always been an introvert, comfortable in her own company- but she had never in her life been truly, utterly alone. Empathy crushed its arms around Rebecca’s rib cage, easily imagining her dearest friend bewildered and desperate, arriving in this backward ass place, afraid to die.

Trusting her instincts, she slowly stretched out her hand and placed her right hand on Nessa’s shoulder. The light contact came with a push of solid, comforting energy. “You held on, Ness. You held on until we could get to you and we are going to get you and Katniss home. You will not be forgotten and you  _ will _ finish your series. This is not where we die.” The writer took a shuddering breath in and let it out slowly, taking her hand from her braid and closing her eyes. Becca’s voice was as firm and kind and unswerving as her friend had always imagined it to be in the endless hours of panicked desperation spent wondering how the fuck she was going to bullshit divinity.

“It always feels good to hope, even better when your faith did not fail you.” A small smile lit her face. Her hand raised to cover her friend’s and the Doctor studied them with a fond gaze. The Time Lord found something beautiful within the deep sisterhood these witches held.

Vanessa straightened and they dropped their hands as she opened her eyes, looking from Becca to the Doctor and back, taking another drink of her nasty tea. “Bensh worked out a lot of what my identity to the public was. I became a governing body- whatever I said was made law and enforced. The rituals were born out of the tests they did with Katniss and I. I don’t know what about the air changes human blood, but it had an impact that I couldn’t deny and I twisted it into my… my magic here.”

Both Becca and the Doctor focused on the ridges of scars carefully patterned across her limbs. Beneath the delicate new pink scars, the remnants of her old self-harm scars still etched their way over her skin. Both could see the difference between knife scars and cat claw marks, but only Becca felt a deep ache born of understanding. Ness had fought for years against the devastating addiction of her youth. To come here and find herself confronted with it as her only lifeline- the decision to give in must have torn her to shreds. All she could do was wear a mask and perform as the traumatized theater kid in her had trained to do. Lie and stay alive.

“It was an easy way to count the days. It was the only way I could maintain my sanity in a really sick way. I am worshipped by these people and I had to embrace the identity of someone who should be worshipped. My God complex caught me a few times after I’d been here for a while and all I dreamed about was what I would have this alien species do next.” The Doctor had a different look in his eyes now as he leaned forward. “How interesting,” he murmured, the same strange way he had back in her Aunt’s home on Earth. There were more to those words than Rebecca could ferret out.

A peculiar look wrote itself on Vanessa’s face, a cross of shame, regret, and bitterness. “Don’t misunderstand. I copied a plotline from the Claidi Collection and made up weird laws like jumping up and down on one leg for a day, or hugging a Rens (mushroom) if a God sang the hack song (hairball). It was a lot of bullshit, mixed in with knowledge of punishment for Bettians. I judged thousands and some I think I did justice and some I’m sure I probably ruined their lives. And Fatniss, my great grumpy God, oftentimes forced my hand on decisions, depending on her reactions. My greatest mistakes cost this world a color and I couldn’t do anything to stop it.”

Her hands went white-knuckled on the platter then relaxed very suddenly. Her face read clearly that she knew the consequences of her actions, but couldn’t regret them as they kept her alive. And for every bad decision she made, she paid for it in blood.

“At what point in this cult building did they mark your face?” The Doctor queried, carefully choosing not to reply to Vanessa’s confession. Becca raised her eyebrow in a slight gesture that the Time Lord absorbed in a single glance and he tilted his hands to block a knowledgeable half-smile from Nessa’s view.

Rebecca knew he understood her friend all too well and didn’t need to say anything to acknowledge that. They were special as he had told her before and they knew him in a way others couldn’t. And he wanted to know why her face had been wrought so. So did Becca. Very much.

Her fingers went to the deep pink scars and it seemed like her eyes glowed with emotions. “This was the response to my case of cat scratch fever- or it was a reaction to something I had tested. Still unsure, but it hasn’t happened again. They came to the conclusion that I was sick because I wasn’t in tune enough with the Gods. It took a while to recover from both the illness and the ritual, but the isolation I snatched during that time helped me prepare for what came afterward. The recovery I made secured my position in the public eye and in turn, my safety and Katniss’.”

Her face was composed carefully as she spoke, not wanting to show these two the depths of terror she had felt submitting herself to a Bettian knife. It wasn’t something she allowed herself to dwell on often. Both Becca and the Doctor tactfully did not press her for more on the subject.

“And thus you integrated yourself into the culture of Hashbet and masterminded a performance of Divinity. Summoning the TARDIS, falling through portals, making alien cults…” He shook his head in mock despair, but his bright blue eyes danced with joy. Both women had a sudden rush of awareness; of this great old being’s love of the trouble they, as children of the Universe, had managed to find themselves in. How he adored them.

Rebecca grinned at him, at once challenging and playful. “We don’t do anything by halves, do we Doctor?”

The Time Lord cocked his sterling eyebrows and sighed dramatically before asking for more yenlin tea. Nessa matched her witch sister’s grin and went to fetch more gross alien leaf water.

She returned with new mugs and her platter now held a small assortment of differently prepared mushrooms. When she sat, Rebecca couldn’t help but ask, “How did you find out what was compatible with a human system, Ness?”

The alien priestess’ smile was feral as she used her boney fingers to pick up thin slices of flesh. “Scientific Method. I would test a small bit of whatever I would be trying on my skin and if there was a bad reaction, I didn’t try to eat it. Bensh did their best to help me find something that could provide me sustenance. It was a challenge since Bettians only have one form of consumable and they guard it jealously. I became a partial caretaker for their Fields of Gold after I had settled fully in my position and they were encouraged when my meager knowledge of gardening helped to improve their intake.”

The mushrooms tasted very different from those back home. Some chopped into cubes had a bright sourness that was sweet in her nose, while the slices tasted like deeply smoked ham with a strange cherry aftertaste. “Well, I’m glad to know I rubbed off on you enough that you didn’t just risk it for the biscuit and hope that you’d survive whatever you ate.” It made Nessa laugh and she conceded that once upon a time she had been cavewoman enough to do exactly that.

It was counterproductive to the goal of long-term survival though.

“How do the Fields tie into the Bettian society?” The Doctor asked around bites, pulling Vanessa’s attention back. “It’s everything. The Egyptians have the Nile, the Bettains have their Fields of Gold. It is how this civilization has survived and how they came to worship cats as their Gods.”

A mottled grey shorthair got curious enough of Rebecca to cautiously lick her knee, sandpaper tongue rasping over skin. It broke the seal and within three long moments, many of the carefree kitties decided the table and its inhabitants were worth paying attention to. All of them treated the Doctor with a careful wariness and respect given to top tier predators.

Becca wondered what they had told the Time Lord without the humans' awareness.

“Maranth is the single constant crop grown by the inhabitants of Hashbet. They need it like we need air and water, to continue to grow and reproduce. A long time ago it was scarce and the Bettians struggled to maintain their existence here. But they found something that quickened its germination and the elder Bettians worked out how to use this substance to ensure that enough Maranth could be grown with relative continuity.”

“What was it they found?” The Doctor popped more mushroom into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully.

Vanessa’s smile was wicked, as if she’d been waiting for this reveal

“Cat shit.”

Becca snorted her Yenlin and began coughing violently while the Doc just stared incredulously. “Come again?”

“You heard me. The Bettians discovered that Maranth responds strongly to cat feces fertilizer. Thus the cats were brought here and their existence became a focal point of the society here on Hashbet. And _ I _ am the high and mighty cat shit caretaker.”

The irony was thick enough to set Becca back to hacking and the Doctor looked at the priestess with mild disapproval.

“You’ll see tomorrow when we go out for patrol. I have a whole guild, made of three clanspeople from every color, that have been working with me since I arrived to keep me abreast on every step of their progress and the upkeep of the sustenance that supports every color across the spectrum. I spend most of my days handling the fertilizer and making sure it’s evenly distributed around the Fields.”

Becca took some deep breaths and massaged her chest while she processed this fascinating nugget of information. It was all beginning to make sense now, “Did you come up with the Guild idea?” Ness shook her head. “No, Bensh was the one who put it together to support me. They thought the Guild would be unifying after Katniss and I accidentally allowed the grey massacre.”

The hollowness in her voice at the end was painful to hear. There was deep, residing guilt there for the consequences of her actions. 

“You’ve had a major impact on the timeline of this world, Miss Hyde. Whatever your intentions and desires, what you have done will ripple through their history and change the course of Hashbettian civilization. What happens next may change it even more- have you thought about it?” The Doctor intoned seriously.

A pained panicked look crossed Vanessa’s face. “Not enough. I didn’t know when someone would come so I’ve just been playing my game for as long as I could take it. I was considering what it would be like to be an old woman here.”

_ What a terrifying future to consider _ , Becca thought.

“With your arrival, such a timely one I might add, I am frankly at a loss. I figured if someone came, it would be a matter of snagging Katniss and high tailing it out of here. But that isn’t in the cards presented to me. You both arrived on the brink of another color cleansing and this time, like last, I don’t know how to stop it.”

Rebecca sat back, her mind whirling with all the new information and seeking strength to balance the defeat in her best friend’s voice.

With everything that had happened, there was no way to spirit Nessa and Katniss away from the Bettian citadel, and keep this alien society from descending into utter chaos and civil war. Too much expectation had been bestowed on Nessa the Prophetess and her divinity. If she ran, she doomed these people to broken faith and anarchy.

The Doctor would never allow that.

“Well, three heads are better than one and between us, I am sure there is a way to dip out of here without collapsing Bettian society around our ears. It’s time to share the load, Nessa, and we’ll figure out a way to get home. ”

The writer smiled gratefully at her friend, “I believe you. There isn’t anyone else who would time this shit like you, Bec. And you brought one hell of a calvary.”

Becca looked at the Doctor who met her eyes and smiled knowingly. Maybe it was a side effect of being his newest companion, or something within herself, but the scientist knew the Time Lord was very excited to see what she would come up with to get her witch sister out of this mess.

To be honest, despite the trepidation, Rebecca was excited too. Running a hand over a sweet-faced Scottish Fold, she began planning divinity with a twist.


	5. Improvise and Adapt

When the blue sun rose the next day, Nessa was already a blur of motion and her two companions worked at her side to prepare the food for the Gods. When it came to uniform time though, she was halted by an obstinate Doctor.

“I feel that is impractical and revealing so I appreciate the thought, Miss Hyde, but I will not be wearing that.” He declared after the writer had laid out black Bettian cloth and accessories to emphasize their new status. The look on her face was vibrantly familiar as Nessa ground her teeth and tried to work around this interruption in her flow.

She was twisting Becca’s mane into an intricate three-strand braid, decorated with bone and silk-like materials in a range of colors. The short horns were tightened behind her ears and Becca resigned herself to becoming accustomed to the itch and weight of them. “I understand how you feel, Doctor, but your suit is too human and you are a Prophet now. The Bettians will be expecting you to look the part and may become suspicious if you do not.”

Rebecca had already donned the short black dress and was fitting the arm bracelets and anklets onto her limbs, letting her sense of surrealism add some light spice to her thoughts. She felt much better after a few hours of sleep, but when she woke up in the tower of the Bettian citadel, not in her apartment back on Earth, the feeling of lucid dreaming intensified.

Tying the last bead into her friend’s hair, she rounded on the Doctor. “Your turn.” He looked surprised and Becca went to his cloth and held it up, understanding why he felt uncomfortable. Most men would be discomfited at the idea of being so exposed. “If you roll your pants up and wear this, we can say that you are our underling and you have to cover up more than us.”

It was obvious he did not like the idea of not being in charge, but he submitted to Nessa’s quick fingers, styling his clean silver-grey hair into smaller braids. Fixing his horns took some creative use of the silk material and a sticky mix of Rens juice and saliva. “Bec, can you seek out fatty fat? She has morning prayers today and she needs to be brushed and fed.”

Finding Katniss proved to be more difficult than she expected, but the alien room full of cats made finding anything a challenge. Sticking her head around a thin screen of sparkling plastic-looking material, Becca found her nose assaulted and her quarry.

Emerald green sand with splotches of vibrant pink and orange filled a large circular depression in the floor. It was filled with Bettian gold and amid the stinking recess, Katniss tug boated near the farthest curve.

Her brain registered the smell and matched it easily with the undercurrent stench that had wrapped around her when she’d first exited the under darkness. It was what she had been smelling this whole time, unable to identify such an earthly smell on this foreign planet. “Hey there, your Godliness. You heard, it’s time for morning prayers and you have stuff all in your fur. Not a good look.”

She skirted the eye-watering bowl and reached for the fierce-eyed cat.

Becca wasn’t surprised that the Bettians had taken one look at the leader of the Thunderpaws and declared her a God among Gods. Her eyes could split a soul if she desired. And she was not pleased to be fished out of her toilet kingdom.

When she returned with her armful of angry feline, she found the Doctor’s pale chest staring at her from above the pitch-black wrap around his ribcage. He had conceded to roll his pants up and lose his shoes, making him into a strange blend of aristocrat and barbarian.

Rebecca cleaned Katniss up while Ness moved from one task to another, the cats following her movements with their slitted gazes. “Bensh will call for us soon. The assembly is fairly simple, but afterward, I’m not sure what will be asked of you, so just be ready for anything.”

“You both were Boy Scouts in your early years- isn’t Be Prepared the motto?” The Doctor wondered, putting his glasses on. He looked like an eccentric from Miami going for a weird beach party.

“Yes, but the Boy Scouts does not have a merit badge for alien relations and etiquette.” Katniss’ fur was soft and shining by the time Bec had finished cleaning her, marveling that she looked better 18 months after being on an alien planet than she had in the past few months on Earth. All the cats of Hashbet looked healthy, glossy coats and bright eyes- Godhood had a few perks.

Vanessa seized a braided length of viney rope that hung near the middle of the room and pulled with all the power in her slender body, and the reverberating toll was like and yet unlike any bells Becca had ever heard. Cleverly hidden openings revealed themselves and the multitude of cats in the room streamed out, on their own personal missions. It was a sight to behold.

Katniss did nothing beyond twitch her ears at the vibrations.

“Alright, that should do it. Are you both ready?”

The Doctor pulled a plain fan from somewhere and flicked it open, “More than ready, Miss Hyde. Lead the way.”

The priestess nodded and looked to her friend, “Please carry Katniss and set her down only on her throne. If she gets pissy, click at me twice and I’ll settle her. Whatever you do, you do not want the Bettians to see one of the Gods disprove of you. Doctor… do whatever you think is best.”

They heard a soft hush and the click of dull claws before Bensh came from the alien elevator. They bowed deeply to Katniss, who looked comfortably like it was her due. Then the elder Bettian bowed to Nessa. “Prophetess, the assembly has gathered to hear the Will of Fatniss this morn. Will you speak?” They asked reverently. The eyes shifted between an ethereal pale blue to sapphire and orange in moments, and Vanessa nodded, leading the trio after It.

Becca wondered how Katniss felt about the cloud transport in her palace.

The big grey cat shifted uneasily in the scientist’s arms and Becca prayed that things would go smoothly so she could observe and find the best way to get all of them out of here.

“It is an honor to be in the presence of three who commune with the God of Gods. May you bring many blessings upon our people.” Bensh’s voice was kindly, and Becca was grateful for this Bettian who had helped to keep her friend alive, whatever the lies They believed. Bensh seized the white filaments within the cloud, raising them high as Nessa had, then bent the fibers over their other arm and pulled down.

More unsettling than going up was going down.

_Don’t be sick, don’t be sick, don’t be sick._

The Doctor’s hand landed on her shoulder, steadying her and helping her maintain her grip on the uncomfortable old cat in her arms. There was no protest, but Bec could clearly feel that Katniss was less than fond of this going down stuff.

Bensh landed softly in the grand hall and escorted the three prophets to the Bone Throne with the greatest dignity. The curtain of colors blocked them from view, but Becca could hear them, strange intonations, and the click of many claws on the hard ground. _How many are here?_ She wondered, carefully placing her fluffy God onto her throne, where she sat and began washing her face.

They took up positions around the brown whorled throne, the two women to the left and right while the Doctor plopped himself down on the steps in front. A triangle of strange power.

When they were announced and revealed by Bensh, Becca gazed upon hundreds of thousands of Bettians crammed along the walls of the long hall- eager, color shifting eyes and wooden faces gazing with fervor and fascination at the Bone Throne.

They were living history, creating it in the moment. Rebecca wondered what stories would spawn from the image of the three aliens arranged around their holy relic, attending the fiercest God Hashbet had known. It was a heady feeling as she watched Vanessa play off of Bensh’s script and pray to the housecat she had taken care of for several years. It must have been very strange to do the first few times.

The Bettians ate up her performance, so carefully curated over the past months. How she kept a straight face, praying fanatically to Fatniss the God, Becca could barely fathom.

After what felt like hours, the Bettains gathered before the dais and humbled themselves before her, laying fragrant gifts and what Becca took as Bettain art, before the Doctor’s feet. Offerings for the God of Gods.

He accepted them and presented them in his own interpretation to the cat and her tail lightly brushed one strange carving that looked like it was made of mash potatoes and concrete. 

The presenter sang in a weird undulating call, expressing utter joy.

The ceremony was wrapped up by another bloodletting on Nessa’s part, this time on her left arm above her elbow.

“Fatniss commands that today, each Bettian must give one compliment to every God that crosses their path today. It must be lengthy enough to please, but not too long that the God grows bored. Go forth in Fatniss’ trust and guidance.” She marked the Bettian who had given Katniss an offering she liked and gave a generic blessing for health and prosperity. The Bettian made a long chittering sound that shook its slim body.

Wow, this girl really did just make up a law for the day and send these aliens on their way. The hall emptied slowly and for this first time in hours, Becca quietly asked a question. “What was that noise it made, Ness?”

The priestess looked up, confused, then it cleared as she grinned, “I believe that is the sound Bettians make when they are crying. They don’t have tear ducts, so I interpreted it as their expression of weeping. The slower it is, the sadder it is. That one was crying with joy.”

The moment she said it, Rebecca could feel a painful awkwardness warring with the writer’s god complex. The alien was crying joyously at being blessed by Ness’ blood and bullshit. The second-hand feeling made Becca’s stomach tighten.

“Good to know. So, morning prayers are over. What’s next?”

The Doctor opened his arms and Katniss gracefully stepped into them, leaving both women’s mouths agape. “I believe we are headed to these Fields of Gold, yes? I am dying to see them.”

Becca was curious as well, but she was not looking forward to the smell. There was simply no way to prepare her nose for what was coming and Nessa looked at her with sympathy, “Yes, it’s time for the rounds. Since she seems comfortable with you, Doctor, please keep Katniss with you. More than likely each of us will be asked to visit a few different fields. Everything should be in order and if there are problems- improvise as best you can. Watch out for any orange you see. The other colors are on the lookout for them and if you see them, do not interact with them- they might be bullied, but the friction hasn’t reached the point, yet, of killing them on sight. See what comes to you, and I will see you both back here at the end of the day.”

The _yet_ in her statement chilled Becca’s blood. 

It was easy to forget that there were lives at stake in these games, but the Bettians were on the brink of eliminating another chunk of their society. Last night, when the Doctor had gone to wander on his own, she had coaxed the story from her friend of how the Prophetess had gotten too confident in her acting ability and had thought she could soft-pedal her harsh decree upon the Greys when Katniss had hissed at their representative.

Within a few weeks, there were none of them left to wear their color. There had been no backpedaling that could save them from the fanatics in the Bettian society.

Orange was in an even worse position, having been hissed at _and_ swatted when their representative had brought something stinky and dripping to the fickle God as an offering. Desperate not to cause any more damage, Vanessa had only declared them outcasts for the time being while she tried to think of a way to bring Orange back into the fold.

That was the tightrope Ness had been walking when the cavalry had arrived to back her up and help preserve this culture she had created around herself for safety.

Guided by two Bettians, Red and Yellow, Rebecca turned the might and power of her logical mind to the two problems before her, as she journeyed from the city towards the Fields. Her guides were quiet and respectful of her introspection and she appreciated it. They looked at her with curiosity and excitement from time to time though. Any cat that passed them received beautiful compliments to their fur, their eyes, and their tails, making the new prophet smile warmly.

“Prophetess, we have arrived.” The Red called in a soft voice just when Becca’s feet were beginning to ache. Climbing a short hill dotted with zig-zags of white and violet, she gasped at the visage spread before her. It was astonishing. It was beautiful. And it _stank_.

Spread before her was an ocean of gold; real, glinting, shimmering gold as far as her eye could see. The Maranth grew as high as her chest, the fine strands reminding her of hair growing from the ground, drifting in the air like it was weightless. The Fields rippled like waves and throughout it she could pick out the Bettian farmers, carefully curating and collecting from specific areas. Cats added specks of color, freely roaming as their own Gods among their people and purpose.

Her guides brought her toward a Rens built shelter just outside the first row of the waving gold and she could easily see multiple colors mixing and carrying dark blue and green soil to and from the space. As she grew closer, she also noted ruby-colored sand in bowls around being carefully combed through by backward hands and bundles wrapped by the same sapphire silk stuff that wrapped some of Nessa’s braids. It sparkled in the light, accentuating the gorgeous shining gold strands of Maranth.

“Prophetess.” The Bettians called, acknowledging her with deep bows. She nodded in return, resisting the urge to fidget with her horns.

She could do this. Her eyes might water and her gag reflex might play games with her focus, but she was a scientist and a priestess. All the knowledge here would help her figure out how to save them from the Doctor’s anger and their own despair if they broke the Bettian faith.

“Show me.” She commanded.

* * *

The sun crossed the sky of Hashbet, changing the celestial bodies that still boggled Becca’s mind, and beneath their gaze, she explored the Fields and the area around them. 

The Guild members Vanessa had mentioned were precise and knowledgeable, explaining how the Fields were divided carefully into large chunks of arable lands, cared for by the wisest of the elders from each color, and when it was harvested, the bundles were divided up by the Caretakers Council- the group that explained and argued for every batch. The oldest of this Council was the arbitrator of all discussion and the will of the Gods was held to its best standard. The colors argued on the basis of how many blessings… or Becca guessed, pounds of cat shit- each color provided to fuel the hungry maw of the Maranth fields. More feces, more Gods hanging around your area seemed like convoluted logic, but Becca forced herself to see it as sense.

There was no wonder Bensh was able to do so much for Nessa when she and her predicament landed in their lap. The Black was the most politically powerful member of this society. Becca wondered what was really going on inside that great horned head. She had estimated their life spans to be about 60 years, as best a human could guess time on an alien planet. With their horns, they must have been around 58 or 59.

She hadn’t yet managed to consider how they reproduced when there were no discernable differences between an individual Bettian beyond whorl patterning, horn length, and color cloth that proclaimed to all who their family was. There was already so much to absorb, she just did her best to file it all properly for her ADHD brain to consider how it all fit into the puzzle of escape.

Her hand drifted through a waist-high length of Maranth and shivered. Her mind told her it was spider silk soft hair that brushed like water around her fingers and paired that with the information that this substance fed a nation of aliens- and she pinched the bridge of her nose, breathing shallowly.   
Of all questions that had nipped at her mind for hours about how it was she could be here, why the air was okay to breathe, how the Bettians consumed this weird grass; of all the questions, she really wondered how the smell of cat poop mixed with the orange- creamsicle scent of the Maranth was possible on this alien planet.

She felt exhausted from the mental excursion, but also keyed up and keen-eyed. The hunt for answers was as fun a chase as any debate, especially when the stakes were so high. What a thing it would be to fulfill the vision of whatever power the Doctor acknowledged was inside of her. It would be as good as victory.

Becca came to the edge of the first field, a small valley separating another swath of Maranth that waved beyond her sight. The soft _whush_ of it was the only sound in her ears. Within the valley she saw a few cats sniffing after small amber moths and tiger-striped butterfly things, brushing their heads against vibrant indigo flowers shaped like pomegranates, making them shiver like bells.

_Hmmm..._

A small movement near the entrance to a Rens forest (maybe the Rensbar she had first been taken in, but she had no way to confirm) caught her eye. In the shadow of a large sherbert colored mushroom, dripping coral and violet vines was a Bettian in dark orange cloth.

Vanessa’s warning to be wary of the outcast color ran through Becca’s head, but it felt like they were alone for miles and this group was at the crux of the mounting pressures. She maintained a stately pace and joined the Bettian outside of the Field.

“Prophetess.” They whispered, dropping into a deep formal bow. Their horns were barely a few millimeters above their rounded woody cheeks and their eyes shimmered crimson, but for a few waves of violet that danced around their oblong pupil. “Rise.”

They stood to their full slender height, barely past her shoulders, and clasped their hands upside down. “I come to speak to the new Prophetess to ask if there is any hope for my people. Zeckf never meant to insult the mighty Fatniss with thems creation. Is there any hope to preserve our color?” Becca could see their jaw move in a strange way, and wondered if the soft-voiced Bettian was holding back tears.

_Damn Katniss, you really have these people thinking that they are going to die. Grouchy grump._

Becca drew herself up and spoke in a calm, but firm voice. “What is your name?”

They shook slightly and squeaked out the quiet word, “Vran.”

“Vran of orange, we do only as the Gods will and only they have the power to change your fate. Though they are fickle, they are also merciful. Present your offering to the God of Gods on the last dark night before the Rushar returns and see the will of Fatniss realized.” She intoned like a prayer, and Vran chittered in what sounded like sadness, fright, and unwilling hope.

It was as good a deadline as she could give for all involved. It would freak Ness perhaps, but the Doctor would like the pressure to perform. “Go. Prepare for your judgment and pay the Gods your compliments.”

The Bettian thanked her shakingly and bound through the Rens, away from the Fields, and towards the city. The silence following knotted Becca’s stomach up as she thought about how to convince Katniss to bless this color so they could live. If Vanessa or the Doctor had suggestions, she would sure like to hear them.

Wandering back out to the valley, the woman stepped over several contented cats in patches of different shades of purple and yellow roots, like nests, and saw the blue pomegranate flowers again, shuddering in the breeze. How could she persuade Katniss?

Beginning in the valley and working her way out toward the city, Rebecca began thinking- and collecting.

* * *

With the sun descending and the darkness looming, Becca raced through the city streets with her bunches of alien flora held tightly in the fabric around her abdomen, following quick-stepping guides ahead of her. What use was modesty on an alien planet? She needed to carry these things and her guides informed her that it was soon time for the evening absolutions. The other two Prophets were already attendant on Fatniss and were waiting for her to begin.

Behind her teeth, she had entire conversations ready to happen locked tight, the fruits of all of her arduous and calculated planning. If either of her companions could fill in some blanks, she had solutions to problems that had an 80% chance of not fucking up. Give or take.

Her guides rounded corners, their powerful legs covering twice the distance she could. They were eager to attend the ceremony after the honor of leading her around the Fields and seeing her divinity at work.

Growing closer to the citadel, Rebecca gulped and settled her nerves. This was the next move in the game, she just had to _work_ it.

Kindly they took her through a different entrance instead of leading her down the long hall. Bensh was waiting for her and they greeted her serenely. “Prophetess returns bearing what makes her curious?” They asked as they led her towards the dais. She smiled and carefully studied the elder Bettian, her new knowledge painting them in a different light. “As I wandered, the Gods spoke to me of transformation and ascension. I have seen their will and seek to be guided by it, Bensh.” It was hard to tell, but their deep rose-colored eyes dancing with pinpoints of forest green, amber, and ice blue, flared and shimmered at the word ascension. 

She had to be careful with that word since this Bettain might think that she and the Doc needed matching facial scars. But it was the best cover she could think of for whatever escape plan could be hatched in a short amount of time. They needed to leave without ‘leaving’. 

“We all only do as the Gods will us to, Prophetess Bec. May Fatniss guide our fortunes and thank you for your wisdom.” They replied, bringing her onto the dais. She nodded and set her parcels behind the Bone Throne before taking her place at Katniss’ side. She looked indolent and well pleased after enjoying the day with the Doctor, who greeted her with a pleasant grin. Nessa gave her a look, both glad to see her and curious about her near tardiness.

Bensh began the announcement. “I might have an idea, so roll with me, alright?” She murmured and saw two head dip in acknowledgment as the curtain was drawn and the four cult leaders looked down upon their supplicants. 

Nessa remained cool faced as the elder Bettian prayed and led their people in some strange song that sounded like a spritely, rumbling, fairy song. Watching her, the Doctor and Becca began to sway when she did, enjoying the unfamiliar song of an alien people, the women hoping they would live to remember it in their dreams.

The Doctor did some strange dance moves, looking like he was having the time of his life, and there were high pitched screeches of approval dotting the hall that made Becca want to laugh, but that was definitely not appropriate.

She and Nessa swayed with smooth grace, spiraling the energy of the hall high, seeking the moment to make the next move. This was a space where time and choice stretched out, making eternity in moments, waiting for it to be _just right_.

The song stretched in a powerful crescendo and Nessa pivoted as her friend stepped forward to take Katniss’ paw. Her mask didn’t betray her surprise, but she did some low jazz hands and nodded.

Becca pushed the grumpy God’s claws out and scratched her inner forearm deeply, gritting her teeth through the pain and almost gasping through the adrenaline. The blood spilled forward, scenting the air powerfully, and the Bettians trilled and chirped wildly. 

Coating her palm and fingers, she covered her mouth and marked the lower half of her face, breathing deep as Nessa’s jazz hands rose. As soon as they raised high, Becca threw out her arms to project to her congregants.

“I, Prophetess Bec, have been shown the will of mighty Fatniss, ruler of the Gods of Hashbet. A time of restoration and change is upon us, revealing the true Divinity of the God of Gods. On the last night of dark reflection, all Bettians are called to the city center to behold this spectacle of worship.” It was simple and dramatic, which she figured would follow with Nessa’s previous performance. “The Gods are well pleased with the day of compliments, and they now command you to compliment yourselves, returning with kind words for tomorrow night. Go forth in Fatniss’ trust.”

Katniss yawned and twitched her tail, which left the Bettians chittering and their claws danced on the floor in delight and anticipation. The move was made, now to improvise.

The Doctor had sparkles of curiosity and interest in his eyes, though his eyebrows seemed ready to attack as the crowd cleared. Vanessa swung to look at her with vaguely panicked eyes, held back only by Bensh’s presence and they accepted food offerings for the Gods currently living in the citadel tower.

“Thank you, Bensh. See the offerings to the tribute room for collection and we shall convene for the evening.” Vanessa commanded, opening her arms to lift Katniss up. The Elder Bettian bowed deeply. Their stately voice farewelled them, citing eagerness for the spectacle Becca had spoken of. The words made the scientist break out in cold sweat as she gathered her herbs and followed her companions. “We shall all prosper in the faith set forth by Fatniss,” was Rebecca’s best cryptic reply. It seemed enough.

The ride up the cloud elevator was quiet and thoughtful, but as soon as Katniss was released to wait for her tribute, Nessa turned around, “So you have a plan? Something? Now that we have until _tomorrow night_ to plan a spectacle.”

Becca went to the low table and set her herbs down, sorting what had gotten crushed and man-handled in her trip back to the citadel. “Yes, I have a partial plan that needs some filling in. But I at least have an idea to keep Orange from getting murdered or annexed out and starved to death.”

As curious as Ness was, she set to doing her chores for the cats first, while the Doctor came to scan them and discuss. “What kind of plan has that brilliant mind hatched, Rebecca?”

She motioned to the various materials she had spent all afternoon hunting down. “The first part of the plan is to figure out which of these Katniss responds strongest to. I watched cats all day to see if there might be a catnip equivalent on this planet and I found these. No idea what they are, but I figured it was worth a shot.”

His sonic sunglasses scanned them and a few he touched pieces to his tongue. “You’re thinking of using one of these to heal the rift in the people.” She nodded and he smiled. “Solid plan, what else?”

Vanessa set the tribute bowls around the room and the patient cats descended upon them as she came to consider what Becca had brought to the table.

“Well, when the offerings are given tomorrow, somehow we scent the orange offering with whichever of these Katniss responds to best to show the Orange brought back into the fold. Then make a distraction during the ceremony and make an ‘ascension’ to cover our getaway. That is where I need some blanks filled in.”

Nessa snorted, “Those are some big blanks to fill, Bec. But this bit might work. Doctor, your thoughts?”

Three of the bundles, he swept up and tossed over the side of the balcony, but the remainder he agreed should be put to Katniss’ test, from there they could figure out how to get it onto the Orange offering. “Can we confirm that they will be at the ceremony tomorrow?”

Nessa turned to find Katniss, “Well, Becca did command the attendance of _all_ the Bettians, so it’s a good guess that orange will come, outcast or no.”

The other woman thought about Vran and nodded. “I believe they will be there.”

When Nessa returned with an armful of grumpy god, the Doctor presented one package of fuzzy pink petals she had plucked from a thick curling vine. “And so we bring the Bettians all together and show that the God of Gods has blessed them. Do we have any ideas for an ascension? One that does not involve matching scars?”

They all thought as Katniss surveyed one clump of herbs after another, subtly responding to each, but not enough to make them confident she would bestow her kindness on the orange Bettians.

“Mmmaybe, if the Doctor can manage some smoke and mirrors, I can give them something believable enough to give us some time to get out of the citadel. With most of the Bettians in the inner city, we should have a clear shot to… do either of you have a plan to actually get us off the planet?” The writer wondered, hoping that wasn’t another blank to fill in.

Katniss purred for some pale yellow strips scraped off a growth on a Rens, but no biscuits in sight.

“If I can find where the Reds caught me, I know how to get back to the portal I exited from. I’m unsure if we can leave that way though- but it should be far enough from the city that we’d have time to figure something out.” By we, the two women were firmly relying on their alien companion to finagle their off-world escape.

Nessa nodded. “It’s something. If we get caught though, after the ceremony, we’ll be in some hot water. It’s also a Branching Day tomorrow so this will be a huge stunt to pull off. Definitely make-it or break-it stakes.”

The Doctor held up the indigo pomegranate flowers, a light dusting of lavender pollen covering his hands. Katniss smelled it and arched in Nessa’s arms. She purred and kneaded herself into the Doctor’s skin, eyes half-lidded and pleased.

The smile he showered on the two priestesses was bright and warm. “You both astonish me. I’m sure I can manage some smoke and mirrors if you can provide an ascension for the Bettian people.” The compliment soothed the nervous ache in Becca’s bones and the hopeful light in Nessa’s eyes gave her confidence.

“One way or another, tomorrow is going to be interesting.”


	6. Overcome

There was something to be said for scheduling something far enough away to finish planning it and also scheduling hours to think and become nervous and terrified of failure.

Vanessa had gone out into the city on her own mission, sending Becca to do her round of the Fields. The Doctor went on his own rounds, the wheels of his mind churning towards ‘distraction’. Katniss stayed with Becca for the days, joining her on her travels through the Maranth.

During all the planning the night before, Becca had managed to ask how the Bettians ate. The image of it was still too disturbing for the scientist to visit very long. As for ‘Branching’, she had learned that it was the rare time that Bettians found out who was reproducing. Somehow also tied into the eating thing which left her even more confused and disturbed.

The evil gleam in Nessa’s eyes when she mentioned the joyous ceremony that was Branching made her both sick and excited. If all went well, tonight would be her last night in this place.

But for certain, she would remember it forever.

At a different field than the ones she had visited the day before, she came across a startlingly familiar Bettian.

They worked hard to bundle the Maranth in thick, even bundles, their strange hands treating it lovingly. Their red cloth and dark whorls struck her and she called their name. Here could be another piece of the puzzle. “Karash.”

They looked at her and their eyes fluttered as it went to bow. “Prophetess Bec. Great Fatniss. I am honored by your acknowledgment.” She motioned for them to get to their feet with a dip of her head. “It is good to see you. You were very respectful of me when you found me. I appreciate it.” They chittered happily and tucked their hands behind their cloth in a motion that reminded her of shyness. Katniss regarded them with bored tolerance, her normal look.

Becca smiled and turned her high beams on, letting her eyes look through the alien. “Karash, what part of the Rensbar did you seek me out? I could not answer Prophetess Ness when she had asked.” They bobbled their head and took her to a post marked with a cross of Rens bark colored silvery red and they angled their body angled to the right and pointed. “You came this way toward the Fields, Prophetess. We mistook you for an enemy looking for our wealth. I am glad we found you though, and not Akam.”

Becca noted a squat chartreuse mushroom with pale blue bubbles protruding like growths from it as the marker for where Narash was pointing. Somewhere that way, the bread crumb trail. “It is true that Akam was not very respectful. They seem to have learned better though and through Fatniss’ faith we may all rise in wisdom and kindness.”

Karash thought about her words and bowed gracefully, forehead to soil. “Your words bring hope. I am eager for tonight’s ceremony and will rejoice to see your ascension, Prophetess. I trust in the will of the God of Gods.”

It was all she could do. She sent them back to their work and went to mark the little Rens that she would use to guide her and her companions to freedom- hopefully.

Katniss blessed a few fields with her precious droppings before they began to return to the city, Becca making careful measurements and marking when she could, which Field they needed to reach to start running. Nessa more than likely knew the best way out of the city, but it would be best if both women had markers to guide them in the right direction once they entered the rural section of the Hashbet capital. The Doctor would follow them as the masterminds of this escape route and he’d be sorely put out if either of them managed to get the group lost.

“We got this, don’t we, fatty fat? You believe in us.” Rebecca murmured to the leader of the Thunderpaws of Earth and the God of Gods on Hashbet, scritching under her chin. She gave a rumbling purr which could’ve meant anything, but it comforted the priestess all the same.

* * *

“Are we prepared?” A breathless Vanessa asked, setting heavy jars of what could have been alien resin on the floor of the citadel tower. The Doctor looked up from playing a laser game with the cats using his sonic sunglasses. “My part is prepared. One major distraction, as requested.” The kitties whined at him to play more and he could not resist them. “I have our escape route marked as best I could and the alien catnip powder ready.” Becca listed, holding her bowl of ocean blue powder aloft. She had found putting extra pollen into the mix had brought the Gods of Hashbet to preen and beg at her feet. It was powerful stuff.

Vanessa nodded. “And I have my part taken care of. Doctor, you still have a next move after we reach the portal?” The man sent his pack of cats tearing across the room as he looked at her and grinned. “Don’t worry, everything will work out.”

Which meant either he had already taken care of it… or he was going to make it up as they went. At least he had already confirmed his distraction as ready to roll.

“Good enough,” Nessa muttered, pulling the lids off her colorful resin jars.

Dipping her fingers into the viscous liquid, the woman began to paint her face around her scars with a striping pattern of orange, black, white, and grey. Once her face was done, she applied it to her arms, chest, and legs. She looked like one weird-ass tabby.

“Bec, your turn, please.” She called, the movement of her face making the pattern shift. Using different jars, Nessa began to paint her friend’s face with black, charcoal grey, and white. It wasn’t unpleasant, like putting paint on skin. When it dried, Bec found it flexible, not sticky, and lightly smelling of coconut. Ness patterned Rebecca’s body carefully and finished with a click. “Excellent. Doctor, if you would?”

The expression on his face was interested, but not eager to have stuff smeared on his skin, but it was part of the plan and he settled before her willingly. For his face, she had pale grey, white, and delicate accents of pink. It was pleasant to see Nessa’s happy smile as she painted the Time Lord, creating a memory she would cherish always. He looked magnificent when she was done.

Painted, braided, and bedecked in alien finery, Becca imagined they looked wild, feral, and to the Bettians, utterly divine.

“Last, but certainly not least.” Ness dipped her finger into the white liquid and delicately traced archaic dots and lines on Fatniss’ grey fur, accenting her glaring yellow eyes.

The paint didn’t dry as nice on her fur and it took the Doctor explaining that it needed to stay on for Katniss to stop trying to wash it away.

The costumes were ready, the plan relatively steady, and before the toll of the Bettian summons, Rebecca went out onto the balcony and looked up, trying to memorize the shape of the rings and planets that filled the sky of Hashbet. Maybe she could get a painter on Earth to do their best to recreate it on canvas.

“I wish we could take a picture of it,” Nessa murmured softly, joining her friend as the Doctor played with the cats more, multiple lasers sending multiple waves of cats around the palace room. “Me too. Will you miss this place?”

A bittersweet smile curved the scarred priestess’ lips. “Hard to miss somewhere that was so frightening and lonely… but there is nowhere like this on Earth and I know that going back, it will be very strange to see so much empty sky.”

Becca nodded in understanding and Ness continued. “I’m glad that we both got the chance to see it though, no matter the cost. It’s been scary, but this is also the adventure of a lifetime for Earthlings like us. I’m glad this sky is a memory that we will share.”

The grey striped woman smiled, inviting her confidence to suffuse her energy as the vibrations rang through their feet. “It’s time. Let’s do this thing.”

They hugged each other tightly, taking strength from each other’s presence. “Gods grant, we’ll be able to give these people a show for the history books.”

Gathering the mighty God of Grump, the trio prepared for their descent.

“Remember ladies, my distraction will create about 30 seconds of cover for us so whatever it takes, we must be gone before their sight clears. Vanessa, are you sure you are prepared?”

The Prophetess nodded regally. “I’m ready. Becca, I am counting on you to nab Katniss as soon as it happens and book it for the side exit. Both the Doctor and I will meet you there and we will run like bats out of hell while the Bettians marvel at the ascension. All clear?”

Bec gave her a thumbs up. “Clear. I got fatty fat- just make sure you two get out of there as quick as we can because otherwise, this is going to look really bad.”

None of them could disagree.

The Doctor tucked the alien catnip in its slim resin jar into the pocket of his trousers and Katniss flexed her claws toward him from Becca’s arms. They had one shot to get this all right.

_ Fuuuuuuck… _

Both women’s anxieties gnawed on their bellies, but their faces were impassive and their eyes ferally focused.

Anxiety wasn’t something that came easily to the Doctor, but he was ready to find out if his two witch sisters were as cunning as they seemed. Descending on their cloud elevator one last time, they met Bensh who studied them with shining eyes.

“Prophets. The time has come. Every Bettian has gathered to exalt in the might of Fatniss and to celebrate another Branching. May we all be led to the Gods’ will.” The trio bowed and Nessa stepped forward with a gentle smile. “Thank you, Bensh. Let us celebrate and embrace the mysteries of Fatniss together. You have given me respect and kindness since my arrival and among Bettians, you are most honorable and blessed.”

An unexpected chitter came from the Elder who bowed.

Nessa led their way to the Bone Throne and the grand hall almost vibrated with the innumerable voices that echoed around them. Placing Katniss on her throne, Rebecca eyed the corridor that was their clearest way out, currently blocked by Bensh, but the Bettian would move during the ceremony, leaving them a clear exit.

She forced herself not to look at it again.

The Doctor shook out her hands, giving her a reassuring smile.  _ All will go as it is meant to _ , it said to her.

As the ceremony commenced, Becca’s panicky instincts cried for a few more seconds to go over the plan again, to replay it one more time in her head, but Bensh announced them and she could feel the fanatical energy directed their way as the curtain drew back.

The dimmed light of the Rushar ceiling sparkled and the Bettian drank in the image of their Prophets adorned in kitty strips and whiskers, looking savage and regal all in one. Their eyes fixated on Katniss who cleaned her paws in response to the attention.

It was do or die time. The show must go on.

Bensh led them in the first prayer, solemn and calm, and Bec counted her heartbeats to try and slow them. But when the first hiss pricked her ear, she knew her queue was coming up.

More hisses joined, as a few straggling Bettians entered the long hall, agitating the massive crows. The Oranges. There were far fewer of them than Becca had realized. They moved as if weak and timid, their leader carrying something shiny and curving in their thin arms.

When it seemed the crowd would turn, Becca stepped forward and projected all the way down the hall, her voice magnified and dangerous.

“The call went out to all Bettians to attend. All must come for judgment before the God of Gods on this auspicious night. Let them come.”

The crowd fell into a hushed murmur, but the Oranges progressed down the hall, their dull claws not making a sound on the hard-packed soil.

When they reached their stopping place, looking up at the dais, the Doctor gazed down. “Zeckf of Orange?”

The leader trembled and bowed, arms holding their offering, putting all their weight on their forehead in humility and placation. “Voices of the Gods, I and my color have answered the call and seek to find grace in Fatniss’ mercy. Will you accept our humble offering in the hope of salvation?”

The words were laced with desperation and fervent belief that Fatniss would see true, and bring them back into the fold. “The Gods accept. Present your offering.” 

Becca didn’t look, but she felt more than saw the twitch of the Doctor’s hand before he took the hefty statue in his hands and set it before the Bone Throne. It was lovely, like jade and marble, streaked with ruby, curving into a fantastic pattern mid-air. They had clearly poured all the belief and hope into this piece. Becca was very glad their faith was going to pay off for this performance of divinity.

The Prophets bowed deeply and Fatniss considered the art before her. Claws clicked around the hallways in anticipation. The two witches held their breath, pushing the fat grey cat to show some kind of interest in the offering. Moments passed under her scrutiny before she stood and sauntered from her Throne to the alien sculpture. She sniffed it and the clicking suddenly stopped.

The tension stretched thick enough to make Becca’s teeth hurt.

Then joy of all joys, Katniss purred and rubbed her head against it, twining around the base, scenting it all over with her approval. Up and down the hall, there were chitters of happiness and awe and Nessa called for the other colors to bring forth their offerings. Under her watchful eye, the Doctor accepted each strange material that the Bettian people wished to give to their Gods.

Becca stood in awe of his sleight of hand and he covered each in the catnip she had created with light dustings from his palm.

Katniss wove from piece to piece, rubbing and scratching her head, and rolling over in pleasure, driving the Bettian’s energy through the space wildly. It was unifying and their voices lifted together in a song that felt like camaraderie and happiness. Even Bensh chittered with euphoria.

Vanessa stepped forward and raised her painted arms to her congregation one last time.

“Mighty Fatniss has judged and found you all to be worthy caretakers of Hashbet. The God of Gods has looked into your beings and willed that you embrace each other and each color. The Gods of Hashbet command you feast and branch!”

Gold rippled through the hall as the Bettians took their Maranth from their leaders, Zeckf taking bundles from a kind-eyed Bensh, and in a rare vulnerable moment, all of them lifted their clothes and ate together.

Nessa explained that feeding was usually a private, family affair, but during Branchings, together they tucked the thin silky threads into the large suckered holes, the size of a man’s clenched fist, that each of them had below where their sternums ended. The noise raised the hairs on the back of Becca’s neck, but she kept her face composed as she bore witness to this alien celebration of life. The Oranges chattered with tears as they gained strength from the food and acceptance. 

Astonishing to her eyes, Becca saw the whorls of each color Bettian flare and ripple from the dark woody brown that she had accustomed herself to see, into the sparkling colors of their clans, filling the hall with a living rainbow that brought tears to the scientist’s eyes. It was so heart-achingly beautiful, something she would remember in awe forever.

“I’m Branching! Me! I’m Branching! Fatniss be praised!” A voice crowed and stumbling forward came a Red Bettian, sparkling crimson in their whorls. Below the large belly button in their chest was a small horizontal ridge that bore a little glowing bulb that shone ruby.

Rebecca smiled. “Karash.” The chittering around her was overwhelming. Karash had consumed enough Maranth to support themself and a new Bettian life. Someday, that little bulb might be the next Bensh of their generation. It made the priestess smile proudly. 

Claws clicked and bright cries of wonder and community enraptured the space.

Katniss settled at the foot of her throne, cleaning between her toes.

“The Gods look upon us generously,” Bensh cried out, their voice overpowering the wild abandon easily and the rippling rainbow subdued itself for the moment. Vanessa took back their attention, twisting her hands in the preparation signal. It was coming soon.

Bec zeroed in on Katniss and felt her muscles coil in anticipation. They had one shot to get this right. Things had gone well so far, but they could still fuck up at the finish line.

“The Gods of Hashbet have bestowed great gifts upon their people, seeking to guide you to peace and unity. Fatniss’ will is that you share with the weakest of you and encourage kindness to flow across the skies of Hashbet, where the Maranth is plentiful and there is respect ingrained deep in its people. On this path, your faith will be rewarded for generations to come.” The dim ceiling began to crackle with slim lines of blue lightning, coalescing above the dais. The awe was palpable.

“Ascension takes faith and trust. Be guided by the shining light of Fatniss’ truth and find honor in the kindness and hard work the God of Gods and all others find pleasing.” More lightning built, shining down a cold light upon the vast rainbow of Bettian society. The white and pale grey paint glowed beneath it, changing the way the humans and Time Lord commanded the space- the Doctor truly looking like a shining God, gazing down upon the people, his hand hidden in his pocket.

Almost.

“We have seen true and pray each one of you is guided forward in joy on Fatniss’ sacred path. Know us and go forth in Fatniss’ trust.” With fierce finality, Vanessa slapped her hands together in front of her, her stripes glowing like magic.

It was near-instantaneous. The clap echoed- and the Rushar fell upon the hall in a swirling, mystical fog. 

Becca snatched up Katniss like a mongoose striking a snake, rushing through the thick fog that smelled of burnt corn and vanilla. It was five steps to the exit which she cleared in leaping bounds. The cover was thick, but wouldn’t last long as the Rushar dissipated back into the ceiling. _ C’mon, Ness, c’mon... _

The Doctor met her in the corridor five seconds later and after another tense six and a half seconds, Vanessa came barreling their way. As one, they turned and dashed toward the open side entrance, leaving behind a cacophony of confused Bettians.

* * *

As the Rushar cleared, the Bettians took notice of their royal dais, adorned by their offerings. Fatniss was gone and they had all seen how the glyphs on her had glowed with power. Settled on the brown Bettian Bone Throne, they found three new Gods, draping themselves comfortably on the arms and seat.

A calico with bright green eyes, a black tabby with dark gold and green eyes, and lastly, a pearlescent opal tabby whose wise blue eyes watched their people bow with the deepest reverence, a chorus of ecstatic chittering and chattering resounding across their city.

Living divinity wrought right before their eyes. Hashbet would remember this for all time.

* * *

The noise chased them from the city, Vanessa leading them at breakneck pace, desperately sure that there would be no one to mark their passing. Katniss was certainly not pleased to be manhandled at that speed, but Becca couldn’t afford to drop her before they got back to the portal, which even at a fast jog would take them an hour and a half at the very least.

The Bettian night embraced them as they got further and further from civilization. The group hummed with tightly held tension, not willing yet to pat their backs on a well pulled off trick. Things could still go wrong.

They pulled to a gasping stop on the hill before the Field Narash had been working, Becca checking her markers were there and then removing their existence after passing her armful of unhappy cat to Ness. “This way,” she guided.

None of them had enough breath yet to converse, so they followed Becca through the ghostly waving Maranth field to her Rens marker. “Do you remember how far in the forest we need to go?”

Shaking her head, Becca took the pile of alien moss she had stacked near it and scattered it. “No, but when we get there, I know where the beginning of my breadcrumb trail is. Karash said it was straight this way, so hopefully, they remembered correctly.”

The Doctor followed behind Becca, eyeing the direction and fixing it in his mind. If Rebecca trusted it, he would trust her instincts. They’d not been led astray yet.

Vanessa didn’t comment but quietly prayed that her friend was right and that they didn’t end up wandering the Rensbar until they were caught. There would be no good explanations after that.

Nighttime in the Rensbar was a lot creepier than during the day, with strange calls and noises echoing through the tall stands of mushrooms. Vines and silks reached for them, some with flowers and fuzz that glowed beneath the broken moon like a blacklight painting.

A harrowing hour after they entered, the Doctor suddenly piped up. “I am very proud of how you both handled yourselves during our escape. Consider me impressed, ladies.”

It was a good antidote to the nervous despair seeping into their bones. The Doctor was proud of them for their clever thinking and quick execution.  _ The Doctor. _ Becca refused to claim victory yet though. But it was close, she could feel it. Then she could take all his compliments and drink them in properly.

“Thank you, Doctor. Thank you for all of your help in coming to my rescue and the rescue of Hashbet.” Vanessa murmured, a soft voice in the night. “Save your thank yous for when we are off-planet, Vanessa. We are definitely not out of the woods yet.”

Her light chuckle was cut off by a rumbling noise far to their left.

“What was that?” The Doctor whispered. “Nothing good,” Nessa replied, “what do you think Bec, are we close?”

Becca scanned the Rens around her, about to give voice to the frustrated boy scout in her, not doing as well in land nav as she felt she should, when a piece of fluttering white cloth caught her eye, ten or twelve feet from them. It was lit up by a pulsing neon-colored salamander looking thing and Becca whisper yelled, “Yes!”

_ ROOOAAARRR!! _

The predatory cry ripped through the Rensbar and the rumbling grew closer. “Oh shit! Becca, on the double, let’s go!”

They rushed for the marker, pulling it down in seconds and turning for the next one. “What the actual fuck is that?!”

“Good lord, you two and your language.”

“If it’s what I think it is, we need to go faster!”

Rebecca tried counting, but the numbers were near useless in panicked fight or flight. Something that made a roar like that was probably large and aggressive. Perhaps a meat-eater.

“Hashbet has a few natural predators and the Jarulcen are probably the nastiest of them! Think a cross between tiger, rhinoceros, and alligator!”

The thud of its hooves or paws could be felt in every step they took and Becca knew whatever image her mind conjured from her friend’s description was probably nowhere near as terrifying as the real thing. She was curious, but not enough to slow down. “Why didn’t we know about these before?!”

“They are pretty rare and we were leaving anyway! I didn’t think to tell you!”

“You should have!”

“I’m sorry! Yell at me later!”

Becca tore past another marker and guessed they were close to three hundred paces from the cave. “We’re close! Doctor, do you have our way out?”

“I think so!”

“Doctor, now would be a good time to  _ know  _ so!”

The creature was knocking Rens down in its desire to get to them and the soft thud of their fall felt like a petal next to the heft of the Jarlucen’s footstep.

“ _ Doctor?! _ ”

An opening revealed itself up ahead and Rebecca’s heart leapt- she had gotten it right. Her land navigation skills hadn’t failed them.

They skidded out into the space around the empty cave that Becca remembered exiting from. Night painted the space neon and dark, but the woman knew she wasn’t crazy when she saw the TARDIS parked next to the shivering cave, with Charlie, Eleanor Copperpot, and Cat Benatar playing in the neon grass like kittens as Professor River Song watched.

“Ah right on time, sweetie.”

“Not now, River! Everyone, TARDIS now!” The Doctor cried as the Jarlucen closed the distance between it and the fleeing group. Charlie and Eleanor spazzed in fright, but running like greyhounds on the track, the two witches snagged the kittens and pelted for the open door and safety. Bennie needed no such harsh treatment. She slinked past River Song’s legs, brushing her tail over the Time Lady’s calf affectionately.

Becca, carrying Charlie, burst into the time machine, closely followed by Vanessa carrying Katniss and Eleanor and bringing up the terrified rear, was the Doctor.

He slammed the door closed and leapt for his controls. “Off we go!”

The TARDIS whooshed, vibrating with the Jarlucen’s last roar, and sang her song as she lifted off from Hashbet and all its complications. Nessa and Rebecca collapsed on the floor, slowly convincing their arms to release their Aunt’s precious cats. “Damn. Shit damn. Hooo, fuckin’  _ damn _ , but we made it!” Nessa gasped.

The Doctor threw his head back and laughed. The Professor looked her husband up and down, smiling as a woman truly in love. “You look brilliant, sweetie. Please do this look again when we go on our next date.”

Painted and exhausted, Becca released an effusive smile and drank in her victory.

They had made it.

_ Thank you, Universe. _

“Vanessa Hyde?” Professor Song spoke, reaching a hand out to the no longer missing young woman. Nessa, for her part, looked starstruck and tongue-tied.

_ It’s River Song _ , she mouthed in Becca’s direction. The Doctor’s wife lifted the wild woman to her feet. “Holy shit. You came too. You watched the kittens while Bec and the Doctor came and got me. Holy shit.”

Professor Song laughed and the sound made the Doctor smile again.

“I figured my part would best be served here in the TARDIS where I could wait for your signal and read peacefully.” She remarked with a twinkle in her eye. “I read your whole series. It might be one of my favorites of all time. Your work is incredible.”

Vanessa looked like she might faint, mouth agape and eyes wide in shock. Never in a million years could she ever imagine those words coming from this woman’s generous lips.

The writer staggered to her best friend. “Becca?”

“Yes?”

“River Song loves my books.”

“I heard.”

“ _ The _ River Song. She’s read the whole series.”

“Mhmmm.”

“I haven’t even finished them yet.”

“She must have gone forward in time and grabbed copies.”

“Rebecca, River Song is my fan. Rebecca, am I dreaming?”

Becca burst into laughter. “No, Ness. None of this has been a dream- we were on an alien planet, you made a cult, Katniss was a God-Queen, and Professor River Song has read your whole series and loves it. Welcome back.”

Vanessa’s whole body sagged and a delirious smile crept across her face. “This calls for celebration, yeah? Like endless breadsticks at Olive Garden, kind of celebration.”

“I have a better idea.” The Professor chimed in mischievously. 

The Doctor shook his head and grinned when his wife held up the witches’ fat pipe and their bag of weed with a bright smile.

Their eyes lit up. Vanessa threw her arm around her taller friend’s shoulder and fist pumped like a college frat boy. “YAS! Time to break my 18-month tolerance break! Where are we going?”

The Doctor’s eyes twinkled. “You’ll see.”


	7. Epilogue: Companion

Watching River Song take a hit from a beautifully rolled blunt was like watching art in motion. Watching the Doctor do it was like watching tragic comedy.

“Thank you for not spoiling my future novels for me, and for all your wonderful compliments for the ones I know I have already written.” Vanessa purred, taking the blunt from the Time Lady and hitting it deeply.

Oh, 18 months clean couldn’t compete with the surreal wonder of smoking on an alien planet, with the Doctor and River Song.

The Time Lord guided the TARDIS to a sanctuary world, called Felinae, in another part of the Universe. Their arrival had been somewhat expected, for when they landed on the planet, a picnic had been arranged beneath a tent of white lawn and delicate samite, already attended by dozens of patiently waiting denizens.

Oil slick shine covered all of the flora on Felinae, shimmering purple, pink, blue, and red from one horizon to the next. Geometric designs ruled the nature of this land, both stunning to the eye and aesthetically pleased. Not even in her dreams could Becca have imagined a world like this. “Well Professor, I won’t go as far as to question your taste, but I find it hard to believe that Tweedledum or Tweedleidiot could produce anything that would impress you.” A quarrelish, old lady voice announced from a chair near Bec.

“Now Katniss, I think that is harsh and undeserved. Both of your caretakers are brilliant and powerful in their own ways, and that should be recognized- even by you.” The Professor replied serenely, accepting the bowl from her hacking husband.

A surprise and delight to find on this planet was the inhabitants of Felinae were mostly large, intelligent, speaking cats. Unexpected side effect- the Aunties’ cats could speak too.

“Oh, she has called them that for years now, Professor. I doubt that is going to change before the old bat dies.” A sharp spritely voice jabbed, coming from little Eleanor who studied the treats and tidbits laid out on the large tea table, batting Charlie’s paw if he reached for something she wanted more than him.

“Eleanor,  _ stooop _ , they said I could have one if I want,” Charlie mewed, reaching again. The calico laughed, arching her back to swish and curl her tail. “I’m not stopping you, big baby, if you want one then  _ get _ one.”

Charlie tried again and Eleanor swatted his paw again, selecting a little fishy morsel to eat for herself. “Eleanor! You’re going to get fat if you hoard them all to yourself! You’re already getting tubby!”

“What did you say?! You wanna fight, misfit toy?? I’ll fight you right now!”

“You don’t back a coward into a corner, Copperpot!”

Just as the children reared up to start boxing, Cat Benatar strode gracefully to the plate and dropped two pieces for Charlie. She flowed between them and curled her tail around her paws.

“Be nice,” she commanded kindly with the regal voice of an ancient queen.

She gave both of them a quick affectionate lick and said no more. 

“I won’t say they are useless, of course not, they are occasionally useful to us and our humans- but intelligence? Doctor, Professor, you did not see these kittens when they first arrived in my care- the foolishness! The…” Katniss set off for another rant involving the words God-Queen, worshippers, and stupid human kittens. The humans didn’t mind, high and full of wonder.

Joining them was a leader of Felinae, Luri, a black-furred snow leopard, whose spots were an iridescent rainbow, counterpointed by her cool peridot eyes that watched them all with interest. 

It was Luri who kept the conversation with the Aunties’ children diverting and interesting as the Time Lord and Lady competed with the two stoner witches for who could take the bigger hit and hold it in longer.

The Doctor had managed the biggest hit, but not without coughing, and Vanessa had reasserted herself as the best at holding the hit in the longest. They had great fun, asking and answering questions, discovering what a Time Lord and Time Lady were like when they were high (cryptic and hilarious, full of weird-ass inside jokes). The talking cats of Felinae draped themselves around them, at once entirely foreign and familiar.

When Luri  slipped from her seat to slink closer to Rebecca, the young woman was overcome with the intense desire to pet her, but resisted until the Felinae leader looked at her and Becca asked, “May I?”

Luri was kind and gracious, setting her large head in Becca’s lap as her finger burrowed into the cloud-soft fur. At one point, Bec was high enough to cry over the beauty of her rainbow-colored spots. Hours passed, talking with cats, with aliens, with Time Lords, and with each other. Nessa cuddled up to a 700-pound white tiger who had taken one look at the terrible scars across her body and growled, “Oh dear, someone best fix you up.”

Getting licked by tiger tongue should have further shredded her skin, but like magic, as the tongue swiped up her arms, her legs, her chest, and finally her face- the scars disappeared.

“Mmmm, delicious.” The big cat had rumbled as Vanessa broke down into ugly, loving sobs. It took the Doctor half an hour to convince Ness’ mind that her skin had been returned to an approximation of what it had been before Hashbet.

The white tiger, named Yyrd, promised to watch after the witch for a time while she recovered from the shock. He didn’t mind.

“She’ll be alright in a few hours, I’m sure. What about you, Becca? How are you?” The Doctor asked, handing her the blunt.

“I’m in fine form, thank you for asking, Doctor. I am enjoying the time I have on this adventure and enjoying the feeling of success and hope. We have a pretty epic future waiting for us back on Earth. Ness is going to finish her series, and we are going to travel, and raise our families together like real sisters. I’ll get to tell my kids about this one day and they won’t believe it is real, but me and Ness will know that it was. It’s more than I could’ve hoped only a few days ago. Now it’s feeling like reality.”

The couple smiled in stoner and nodded happily. “You both will have long, fulfilling lives with every success you desire. You’ve worked for it, and you’ll keep working for it, and we can promise it will come.”

Becca didn’t want to cry into River Song’s lap over how happy those words made her, so she took another hit off of the bowl. “That’s nice to know.”

The Doctor’s high smile looked the way she imagined her Dad looked when he got high, “It is nice, isn’t it?”

Ashing the blunt in the polish silver trays provided, she stood and took the rest to her placidly smiling bestie a few steps away. “Do you want the rest of this?”

Nessa’s hand drifted out. “Yesss, thank you.” Careful not to drop the lit blunt on the big ass tiger, Bec passed it to the tired writer, who hit it and snuggled deeper into the tiger fur as she exhaled.

When she returned, the Doctor was looking at Cat Benatar with acceptance and a touch of sorrow. “If that is what you wish, little one.”

River Song killed the bowl and tapped it out. “Another round anyone?”

Becca looked at the Doctor, who looked at Nessa, and then at his wife.

“Fuck it, let’s stay here a little while longer.” Becca whooped and River Song began to pack another bowl.

Nessa announced in proud stoner, “Hell yeah, the Doctor dropped an F-bomb! Another round!”

* * *

Returning to the Aunties’ house was almost as overwhelming as arriving on other planets. “Oh, Professor! Did you clean the house?” Becca asked and was met with River Song’s generous smile. “It was the least I could do for two of our own.”

Vanessa carried Katniss in and let her down on her couch, taking her place as if she had never left. Charlie and Eleanor soft pawed into the living room, gazing around like they had been gone longer than a few hours. Becca could still hear his soft, sweet voice asking if they could play fishing pole when they got home and the way Eleanor described watching the world out the window to the Doctor.

“We hope that if you’re in the neighborhood, you’ll stop by the smoke with us again.” Ness extended, touching her face again, clear and smooth again after Yyrd’s care. River Song came and hugged them both. “Absolutely. You two are the funniest companions we have had in a while. Maybe we’ll stop in after a few more publications,” she finished with a wink that lit Nessa up like a Yule tree.

“And you,” she said, taking Rebecca’s shoulders in her strong hands, “brave woman. Be happy and fulfilled as you deserve. I will come by for a visit when I get the chance.”

Becca smiled and thanked the Time Lady for her care.

Then the Doctor stepped from his TARDIS with Cat Benatar draped lovingly in his arms. “Tah, Bennie. Time to say goodbye,” Nessa reached to take the soft young cat, but the Doctor halted her.

“Cat Benatar… has requested to join me on the TARDIS. I have accepted her as a companion as she was rather adamant about it. I’m sorry if that choice hurts you,” he explained gently.

Both witches looked at Bennie, who gave them each a slow blink and did not remove herself from the Doctor’s embrace. “Oh, Bennie…”

Nessa smiled with tears in her eyes, “I hope you two have many adventures. Thank you for joining us on this one, Bennie Starback. We’ll all miss you, and think of you in the stars happily. And we still expect visits at some point in the future.” Becca nodded.

“So this is not goodbye- it's see you next time. Our door is always open to you and I can’t wait to tell you more about my stories.” They both reached out to give Bennie one final pet, savoring the contact with her softest fur, her stripes and spots, and tiger leggies; and the Doctor smiled in genuine adoration of his newest companions. Bennie started purring.

Cat Benatar, Bennie Starback would enjoy her life on the TARDIS. And these witches were full of life and wonder. He couldn’t wait until his next chance to drop an F-bomb on them.

“Rebecca, Vanessa, it has been a great honor and a great pleasure to enjoy your company. Until next time, ladies.” He bowed his head and cuddled Bennie to his chest.

Watching them leave was impossibly difficult, but the women knew that each leaving meant a new beginning. Those they could savor.

The TARDIS disappeared silently- River Song must have taken the wheel. They were left in the quiet house, with a million memories between them, and three cats.

Neither River Song nor the Doctor had told them how they were supposed to explain that to the Aunties, who came through the door three minutes later, exhausted and tanned from their vacation, attacking their beloved cats and nieces with love after assuring the house was exactly as they left it.

They talked about their vacation and their friends, not noticing how the younger women seemed a bit absentminded until Vanessa murmured, “I miss Bennie.”

It was a risk, a gamble; Becca felt her stomach tighten.

The Aunties looked baffled and concerned. “I know, honey, but Bennie died years ago, and we got Johnny Castle, who is amazing too. We all miss her.”

A slim fit, black and white cat leapt onto the couch, seeking his Mistress’ attention. He had a white mustache and a spot of black on his white chest, his long black tail indicating swagger. Both witches looked at him, wide-eyed and wondrous. “Johnny?” Becca asked weakly.

Vanessa fainted from stress when he winked at them.

  
  
  
  


RIP Cat Benatar July 23, 2020


End file.
